Fake ‘Justin Bieber’ Predator Jailed Over Child Sex Videos

A 35-year-old British man who pretended to be the pop singer Justin Bieber to trick young people into sending him sex act videos has been jailed for 14 years.

Robert Hunter from Middlesborough in the UK was finally caught after a girl from Tasmania told police about the man’s activities.

The case has been described as one of the worst examples of internet child sex abuse heard in a court by the presiding Judge Peter Bowers.

The pedophile’s activities were so extensive that Interpol were pulled into the investigation.

Hunter was arrested in December 2011.

He pleaded guilty to 15 charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and 14 of making indecent photos of children.

Using Facebook, Skype and MSN and other sites, Hunter abused girls as young as nine from the the US, countries in Europe, Asia and Canada.

Police also found 800 illicit videos and images — some with footage of young boys — at Hunter’s home.

The pedophile would often pose as Bieber to convince girls to disrobe and perform sex acts on a webcam.

Girls, believing Hunter was the pop star, would strip off in front of their computer cameras when he told them by doing so he would be their boyfriend, the court was told.

Schoolboys also became ensnared in Hunter’s abuse when he masqueraded as a teenage girl and persuaded them to perform sex acts on camera.

He would then use these videos to force children to continue, said prosecutor Richard Bennett.

Bennett added: “He was able to persuade some of them that he was the music artist Justin Bieber and he encouraged them to perform sex acts on camera and he recorded many of them.”

When some children tried to back out of performing sex acts they were blackmailed with threats.

A 12-year-old girl slashed her arms after he posted indecent photos of her on Facebook along with her address and phone number, BBC News reports.

Judge Bowers said the case, “[It] represents callous, almost sadistic exploitation over a number of years preying on girls’ naivety who were undermined by their own behavior.”

Det Sgt Paul Higgins, of Cleveland Police, said: “Robert Hunter was a calculating and malicious predator who set out to coerce and bully young girls into exposing themselves over the internet.”

Tina Pawson, defending, described the then defendant as a “lonely individual who had difficulties in forming relationships with adults.”

She added he had shown remorse and was willing to receive treatment in prison.

As he handed down the lengthy sentence Judge Bowers told Hunter,

“It’s a warning to all parents of teenage children of what can be done via the internet.”

“The public will be disgusted by how you have behaved even after you had been arrested and bailed.”

“It represents callous and sadistic exploitation of a number of girls over a number of years.”