Predator blackmailer's victims talk of lives ruined

Blackmailer Anthony Burns is being sentenced for abusing women and children online

Victims of a prolific online predator who blackmailed women around the world have faced the perpetrator in court to reveal how their lives were ripped apart.

Anthony Burns has been convicted of controlling and coercing 27 women between 2018 and 2020, including blackmailing them into sexual acts and child abuse.

Investigators believe Burns, formerly of Lowestoft in Suffolk, tried to target 600 people in total, showing remorseless cruelty in the process.

His web of victims included women living in the UK, US and Australia, while the majority were from England.

Eight victims have faced 39-year-old Burns, who is in the dock for a two-day sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, as they read victim impact statements.

They spoke of their lives being ripped apart, becoming depressed and suffering physical and mental health issues as a result of their abuse.

'I was terrified'

One victim told the court Burns used versatile methods and various numbers to contact her.

He found her business details, including her home address, on the Companies House website, she told the court.

She was left under the impression the offender would attempt to sexually attack or murder her, she added.

"I believe he was capable of finding out and coming to where I live," she said.

"I was terrified. I could not stop thinking about it."

The victim added she turned to comfort eating and and doctors gave her prescription drugs throughout two years of anguish.

"I gained a lot of weight making me further depressed. It caused massive issues to my confidence," she said.

The victim later told the judge Burns no longer has any control over her.

"I don't care about him. But I want him to feel the fullest force of the law. He needs to be punished for what he did," she said.

Other victims, including one from Australia who taped herself speaking, spoke of becoming distrustful, seeing their social lives ruined and no longer using dating apps.

Some of the abused were in tears as they read their statements and said they had contemplated taking their own lives.

One victim explained she was diagnosed with cancer shortly after her ordeal and recalled thinking she wouldn't mind if it killed her.

Another said she had suffered fainting spells and seizures link to poor mental health and sometimes experiened temporary paralysis.

'Sugar daddy' websites

Burns' devices were seized after he was arrested following an investigation which included assistance from the FBI.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) previously said the 39-year-old was a "pupil" of prolific sexual blackmailer Abdul Elahi, who perpetrated some of the most serious offending it had ever investigated.

Prosecuting, Kate Temple-Mabe said Elahi and Burns took delight in messaging victims simultaneously.

She told the court Burns would sometimes receive messages from his mother and girlfriend at the same time he screen recorded people performing live sex acts over WhatsApp.

Burns was a "pupil" of prolific sexual blackmailer Abdul Elahi

Burns, who had previous child abuse convictions, admitted 39 offences and was found guilty at a trial of two counts of causing a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity.

He would meet women on so-called sugar daddy websites or dating sites, using different identifies, phone numbers and profile photos.

A court was previously told he would pose as a modelling agent before making contact with women on WhatsApp and asking them to send sexual photos.

He would go on to screen-record video calls and threaten to share images with the victims' loved ones unless they sent increasingly depraved material.

'Pathetic man'

Mitigating, Hugh Forgan said Burns had suffered a traumatic early life and was living with his mother at the time of the offences.

His client was bullied at school before his former partner was killed in a car crash, he added.

The defence barrister explained Burns, who had attempted to take his own life in custody, suffered from depressive illness, paedophilic disorder and pornography addiction.

He claimed Burns' crimes were not on the same scale as those of Elahi, which involved much younger victims and sold-on "box sets" of pornography.

"He is a lone, pathetic man," Mr Forgan said. "[He was] alone carrying out these acts in his room.

"[It is] different from someone cynically having a business on the side and distributing like Mr Elahi did."

The sentencing continues.