FBI and Hampshire police probe website tied to abuse ring

US authorities have made several arrests and seized more than one million indecent images of children as part of their investigation into the site.

In Hampshire, the case led to the prosecution of a man who uploaded doctored sexual images of women he knew.

Police were alerted to the website in January 2024 after a woman reported that more than 100 altered images of her had been posted online.

The images, originally taken from her wedding day, had been edited to make her appear nude or in lingerie.

The site also included written abuse and fantasies describing sexual violence against her.

Officers identified Ethan Orchard, 30, of Highland Road, Southsea, as the person who uploaded the images.

He was known to the victim and had told her about the images, but did not reveal he was responsible.

Orchard also uploaded manipulated images of two other women and posted violent sexual fantasies about them.

He encouraged others online to harass one of the women, though she was not contacted.

Orchard was charged with three counts of sharing a photograph of a person in an intimate state for the purpose of sexual gratification, and one count of encouraging the commission of an either-way offence and believing it would be committed.

He pleaded guilty on May 11 and was sentenced to three years and four months in prison on July 10.

He was also given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and an indefinite restraining order.

During the investigation, Hampshire Police officer PC Steve Cann contacted the FBI in February 2024 to inform them about the website.

By November that year, PC Cann learned that the site domain had been seized by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

The FDLE had begun investigating the site in July 2024 and found it was being used to distribute child sexual abuse material.

Florida authorities seized 1,100,000 indecent images of children from the site.

More than 50 child victims were identified across the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

Investigators identified 10 offenders, including two money mules in the US and seven buyers in Florida.

Mehmet Bozuyuk, a Turkish resident, is alleged to have led the conspiracy by using stolen identities to facilitate the global sale and distribution of child sex abuse material.

An arrest warrant remains active for Bozuyuk.

PC Steve Cann, of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, said: "What happened to the women in Hampshire is truly shocking, and highlights the very frightening realities of how people like Orchard can exploit online spaces to cause serious harm.

"They were targeted, objectified, and left in constant fear for their safety because of what Orchard did.

"The most insidious part of this was the sheer scale of harm police were able to identify from this one website alone.

"Our counterparts in the US have conducted some incredible work to remove this website, along with more than a million indecent images of children, and have identified a global paedophile ring.

"It is truly horrifying to think that this kind of offending is carried out on such an enormous scale right under all of our noses on the internet."

PC Cann also praised the resilience of the victims in the Hampshire case.

He said: "I want to commend the bravery of the three women in this case in coming forward, and their relentless commitment to supporting a very long and protracted investigation.

"They have played a crucial part in ensuring authorities could target offenders exploiting innocent people.

"The impact the offending has had on them is profound.

"One of the victims and her husband have had the memories of their wedding day completely tarnished and can no longer bear to look at the photographs from their special day.

"All of those affected have been betrayed in the most horrendous way, and I hope the action taken by police both locally and overseas goes some way in helping them recover from this ordeal."