Wythenshawe man paid to direct child sex abuse live streams

Bernard Grace, 72, admitted the offences

A former coach driver who paid to direct live streams of sexual abuse of vulnerable children has been jailed.

Bernard Grace, who used to transport children, was caught after making electronic money transfers to a woman in the Philippines, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

The 72-year-old from Wythenshawe made over 600 payments to people in the Philippines totalling over £20,000.

He was jailed on Friday for eight years at Manchester Crown Court.

Grace was arrested in March 2021 and a laptop seized in a raid on his home revealed 23 Skype chats between Grace and Filipino women where he offered to make, or had made, payments.

These included a payment to a woman under investigation in the Philippines for sex trafficking offences.

Inquires into his financial activity showed he had made payments over six years between January 2015 and March 2021, the NCA said.

NCA operations manager Graham Clare said Grace was "an unrelenting offender" whose actions led to children being abused "in the most horrific and depraved manner for his own sexual gratification".

"He may have thought he'd avoid detection by arranging for abuse to take place against vulnerable children on the other side of the globe, but the NCA has the capabilities to investigate online and internationally."

Grace admitted 11 counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and two counts of making an indecent image of a child and was put on the Sex Offenders' Register for life and handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further notice.

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