Postman admits internet grooming

A postman admitted grooming hundreds of children for sex over a five-year period, using social networking sites to prey on his victims.

Michael Williams, 28, from Penryn, Cornwall, yesterday pleaded guilty to 27 child sex offences, including sexual activity with a child aged between 13 and 15, grooming and voyeurism, when he appeared at Truro Crown Court.

Williams asked for 460 similar offences to be taken into consideration. From 2005 to 2009, Williams pursued hundreds of schoolchildren, on Facebook and Bebo, pretending to be a child. After befriending children he sent them questionnaires, asked where they lived, asking for mobile numbers, and if they had had sex. He would often ask them to use an internet video camera, or webcam.

Detective Inspector Simon Snell said after the guilty plea: "He is a manipulative and predatory paedophile." Williams has been remanded in custody for psychiatric reports and will be sentenced on a date to be fixed. A Facebook spokesman said the company was "deeply concerned" by the scale of the crimes committed by Williams.