Newhaven Man Jailed for Posing as Teenage Girl to Groom Children Online

A 25-year-old man from Newhaven has been sentenced to prison after admitting a series of serious online offences involving the manipulation and grooming of children through social media. The case highlights the ongoing risks children face on digital platforms and the pressures on police forces to investigate and prosecute offenders who exploit those vulnerabilities. Mikey […]

A 25-year-old man from Newhaven has been sentenced to prison after admitting a series of serious online offences involving the manipulation and grooming of children through social media. The case highlights the ongoing risks children face on digital platforms and the pressures on police forces to investigate and prosecute offenders who exploit those vulnerabilities.

Mikey Winchester, of Gibbon Road in Newhaven, used fake social media accounts to pose as a teenage girl in order to contact young children. Using platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, he sent explicit images to victims and solicited indecent content in return, all while pretending to be significantly younger than his true age.

Investigators discovered that Winchester had engaged with at least three young girls — two aged ten and one aged thirteen — over the course of 2022 and 2023. The deception involved adopting false names and profiles, including one under the alias “Ava,” which was carefully crafted to appear as a legitimate teenage account and build trust with his victims.

Sussex Police were alerted to the offending after receiving information from another force in May 2023, when reports were made by two ten-year-old girls who had been contacted by an account using the name “avadunn2.0.” Those reports led to a tracing of the account back to Winchester’s home address.

Officers executed a search warrant at his residence on 18 May 2023, arresting Winchester and seizing multiple digital devices. Further investigation revealed a second account used to groom a 13-year-old girl on Instagram under the name “dumbphoebelol,” again linked directly to Winchester’s devices.

As part of the evidence gathered, detectives found a substantial quantity of illegal material on his devices, including 69 indecent child abuse images and four images categorized as extreme animal pornography.

Winchester pleaded guilty at Lewes Crown Court to multiple offences including sexual communication with a child, inciting sexual activity with children (with and without penetration), making indecent images of a child across several categories, and possession of extreme pornography.

He was sentenced to four years in prison. In addition to the custodial term, he received an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register, reflecting the severity of his conduct and the ongoing risk he poses.

Detective Constable Gary Baker described Winchester as a “calculating, predatory offender who posed as a child to manipulate young children in the most appalling way.” Officers from Sussex Police emphasised the bravery of the victims and their families in coming forward, and credited the collaboration between police forces for enabling the swift investigation and arrest.

The sentence serves as a stark reminder of the dangers posed by online grooming and deception. Police forces continue to urge parents and guardians to maintain open conversations with children about safe online behaviour and to report any concerning contact immediately.