Jeffrey Owens: sex offender from Greater Manchester who admitted 26 offences including abusing children jailed

Jeffrey Owens’ catalogue of sexual offences, which included having thousands of indecent images and sexual activity in front of children, was stopped by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
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A sex offender from Greater Manchester who admitted dozens of offences including sexually abusing two children has been put behind bars following an investigation by the National Crime Agency.

Jeffrey Owens, from Hyde, was jailed for eight years and six months with a further four years on licence at a crown court in Manchester after pleading guilty to 26 offences.

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They included sexually abusing two children, performing sexual acts in front of them and possessing thousands of indecent images of children.

The crime agency which finally put an end to his offending said Owens would threaten his victims into keeping silent about what he had done to them and log onto online chat platforms to talk about his vile activities.

What has Jeffrey Owens been sentenced and jailed for?

Owens, a 44-year-old man from Hyde in Tameside, pleaded guilty in court to 26 offences. They included the sexual assault of a child under 13, seven counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, causing a child to watch a sexual act, three counts of voyeurism and four counts of indecency with a child.

At Manchester Crown Court (Minshull Street) on Monday 20 March Owens was jailed for eight years and six months and ordered to serve a further four years on licence after that.

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The judge also handed Owens an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and told him he will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.

How was Owens caught?

Owens was arrested in May 2020 after specialist officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) who were operating online identified him as someone using internet chat platforms to discuss his sexual interest in children. These included him talking in conversation with other users about how he had abused two children a number of times.

Following his arrest NCA investigators were able to find evidence of him committing a string of sexual offences. It became clear during the investigation into Owens’ activities that he had assaulted and engaged in sexual activity in front of those two children on at least 11 occasions. He had also threatened them into keeping what had happened to them a secret.

Jeffrey OwensJeffrey Owens
Jeffrey Owens

Analysis of Owens’ phone recovered several more chat logs where he spoke to various people about abusing children and shared indecent images. More than 4,000 indecent images of children ranging across categories A-C (where A is the most serious category) were also recovered.

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Investigators found Owens had stored these pictures across several devices and some of the images were ones he had taken himself using a hidden camera.

Both of Owens’ victims have now been helped through safeguarding.

What has the National Crime Agency said about bringing Owens to justice?

Mark Barrow from the National Crime Agency said: “Owens is a persistent offender who seemingly sought out as many opportunities as he could to satisfy his sexual interest in children.

“He consistently took advantage of children, sexually assaulting them and forcing them to watch him perform sexual acts on many occasions, then blackmailed them into keeping his horrific actions a secret.

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“It’s clear this investigation has placed a dangerous sexual offender behind bars. Identifying such individuals and ensuring they can no longer pose a threat to children is an absolute priority for the NCA.

“We will continue to do all we can to tackle this threat but also hope to see a shift from industry to take responsibility for identifying and preventing sexual abuse happening on their platforms.”