British sex predator admits offences against victims across the globe
British pupil of one of the most dangerous-ever internet sex predators blackmailed US mother to abuse her eight-year-old daughter on camera as he admits offences against victims across the globe
- Monstrous Anthony ‘Danny’ Burns blackmailed and controlled at least 27 women
The ‘pupil’ of a dangerous internet predator blackmailed and controlled at least 27 women from all over the world into carrying out degrading sexual acts for his own gratification – with one of his victims as young as eight, a court has heard.
Anthony ‘Danny’ Burns, 39, pleaded guilty to a raft of blackmail and online sex offences against children and adults, it can now be revealed, after being ‘tutored’ by notorious online child sex offender Abdul Elahi.
Elahi was jailed for 32 years in December 2021 after targeting 2,000 people globally to commit sadistic online abuse.
Instructed in techniques of blackmail and threats by Elahi, Burns would follow a ‘pattern’ when engaging with women online, usually via ‘sugar daddy’ or other legitimate online dating sites using different identities and phone numbers as well as fake profile photos, a jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told.
He would occasionally pose as a modelling agent and, after making contact with the women, would move their conversation to WhatsApp before asking them to send sexual photographs or videos in exchange for £600, which he never paid.
Anthony ‘Danny’ Burns blackmailed and controlled at least 27 women from all over the world into carrying out degrading sexual acts
Burns worked with notorious online child sex offender Adbul Elahi (pictured), who was jailed for 32 years in December 2021
Burns would ask the women for photographs of their identification, which he said was to ensure they were of legal age – before actually using the information to research them online.
Who is Abdul Elahi?
Wicked Abdul Elahi, 28, is a prolific paedophile currently serving a 32-year jail sentence for blackmailing victims into committing ‘sickening’ child sex abuse.
During his sordid reign of terror, prosecutors said Elahi targeted as many as 2,000 people.
The monster posed as a rich stockbroker on Sugar Daddy websites before blackmailing his victims into performing degrading sexual acts.
He then sold the footage to paedophiles around the world in packaged boxsets – which included young women abusing themselves, siblings and their children.
In 2021, following a lengthy trial Elahi admitted 158 offences linked to 72 victims and was jailed for 32 years.
He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
When the women agreed to a video call over WhatsApp, Burns would keep his camera off but ‘direct and control’ them by giving them specific instructions about what to do and ‘persuade’ them to carry out increasingly explicit sexual activity.
When he had received enough explicit material, Burns threatened to expose the pictures to the victims’ families and friends unless they sent more increasingly depraved photographs and videos.
He would record the video calls and save the recordings to the cloud so he could access them again later.
A trial, concerning two counts of causing a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, was told that one such call in August 2020 resulted in a woman from the US performing sex acts on herself before sexually abusing her eight-year-old girl.
Lisa Wilding KC said it was the prosecution’s case that Burns was the one directing the woman, who has been jailed for her part in the abuse, to carry out the acts on the child when he noticed she was in the room, although the video recording in question did not have any sound.
Burns, originally from Lowestoft in Suffolk, was described by the prosecution as a ‘controlling and manipulative sexual predator’ who had attempted to contact approximately 600 people around the world with the intention of sexually exploiting them.
NCA officers arrested Burns in February 2019 and his mobile phone and computers were seized and forensically examined.
The FBI helped locate victims in the United States, but most of Burns’ other victims lived in England, with others in the Channel Islands and Australia.
Nigel Whalley, an investigator at the NCA’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, told the court on the first day of the trial there is evidence that Burns was speaking with women from across the UK, US and Australia.
NCA operations manager Robert Slater said: ‘Anthony Burns showed remorseless cruelty in controlling and coercing his victims, including very young children, into acts which have left them severely traumatised.
‘The NCA is determined to identify and pursue the most harmful child sexual offenders, including those who exploit technology to hide their activities and target large numbers of victims, no matter where they are.’
Burns will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in January next year
The FBI provided assistance to the NCA’s investigation and helped locate victims in the United States.
Burns was charged with 46 counts including blackmail, attempted blackmail, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, arranging the commission of a child sex offence, making and distributing indecent images of children, possessing extreme pornography, malicious communications offences, and failure to comply with notification requirements.
He admitted 39 counts and was found guilty of a further two at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday by jurors who deliberated for just over two hours.
He is due to be sentenced at the same court on January 18 2024.
The remaining five charges will lie on file.
Burns was previously jailed for 16 months in 2010 for meeting or communicating with a child under 16 following sexual grooming; causing / inciting a girl under 16 to engage in sexual acts, IIOC offences and possession of extreme pornography.
In December 2013 he was convicted of breaching his Sexual Offences Order, and served a further two years in prison.
Judge Sarah Buckingham told the jury Burns is under no illusion that he will be facing a ‘significant’ custodial sentence, but said the sentencing hearing will be ‘long and complex’ due to the crimes involved.
READ MORE: Paedo, 26, who posed as a ‘sugar daddy’ stockbroker to blackmail 2,000 women and children into sending him explicit selfie videos is jailed for 32 years
NCA Operations Manager, Robert Slater, said: ‘Anthony Burns showed remorseless cruelty in controlling and coercing his victims, including very young children, into acts which have left them severely traumatised.
‘The NCA is determined to identify and pursue the most harmful child sexual offenders, including those who exploit technology to hide their activities and target large numbers of victims, no matter where they are.
‘Anyone being pressured or threatened into sending sexual images or videos online, should remove themselves immediately from the conversation, not respond further to any contact, and report the matter to police.
‘You are not alone, you are not to blame and there is always help available.’
Bethany Raine, Specialist Prosecutor for the CPS, added: ‘Anthony Burns had an obsessive interest in controlling women and children into performing increasingly degrading sexual acts online for his own gratification.
‘Burns also had a perverse desire to see others engage in sexual activity with children and animals.
‘Burns belittled and humiliated victims. They became trapped in a web of fear where their own images became tools of manipulation and extortion, leaving them vulnerable to his depraved demands.
‘This conviction sends a clear message that the CPS is committed in bringing offenders like Burns, who sexually abuse and exploit victims, to justice, wherever that abuse takes place.’
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