A Kensington hotel worker caught trying to livestream the rape of an eight-year-old girl had twice previously dodged prosecution after being suspected of having indecent images of children, The Standard can reveal.
Lester Sharpe, 47, used encrypted app Telegram to organise the sexual abuse of a girl overseas by a man, and agreed to pay for a live video of the rape taking place.
He requested that the girl had “pigtails in hair” and was wearing white socks, and wanted to watch the child while the man was preparing to rape her.
But rather than a real abuser, Sharpe was actually messaging an undercover police officer from the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit.
Police went to Sharpe’s workplace, the Park International hotel in Cromwell Road, Kensington, at 11pm on May 7, the night the abuse had been arranged for.
They found Sharpe – on a break from work – in a locked room at the hotel with the livestream open on his phone. His trousers were undone and he had removed his underwear, Southwark crown court heard.
Judge Michael Hopmeier sentenced Sharpe, a married father, to eight years and three months in prison, with an extra four years on licence after release.
Before passing sentence, the judge was told about two incidents in Sharpe’s past when he was suspected of having child abuse images but did not face a criminal prosecution.
In March 2003, a message was posted to a website used by paedophiles saying: "I live in UK have 2 daughters aged 4 and 9... available for suck and play. I will be present. I have 2 unlisted groups send hardcore pics to join."
A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) note for the court, summarising the incident, said police investigated and Sharpe – then working as a medical receptionist - was “the most likely to have had the opportunity to access the internet at that time”.
Computers from his place of work were seized and examined, while a check on Sharpe revealed he did not actually have children at that time.
There was a delay of more than 18 months in examining one of the computers, and it was not until December 2004 that indecent images of children were found.
The court heard Sharpe was “identified as a possible suspect” by his boss, and timesheets showed he had been working the nightshift at the time of the message being posted. ]
But it was not until September 2005 that he was questioned, and told police he has little memory of the night two-and-a-half years earlier.
A police record reveals Sharpe “read the content of the message posting, he reacted in shock and disgust stating he could not imagine anyone past or present at the company who would have done this”, and a decision was then taken to take no further action and drop the investigation.
In February 2022, Sharpe was arrested in a National Crime Agency investigation into two category A child abuse images uploaded online using a Skype account.
The account was traced back to Sharpe’s home, but a search of his electronic devices did not turn up any illegal images when he was arrested.
The CPS said Sharpe denied involvement and said he “struggled to think who might done such a thing in his house”, before a decision to take no further action was made.
Prosecutors put forward the details to the judge at his sentencing hearing, as evidence that Sharpe has a “sexual attraction towards under-age children”.
When he was first arrested over the hotel incident, Sharpe claimed to have been attempting to catch those facilitating child abuse. But he later pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence.
A probation report found “entrenched offending behaviour”, and Sharpe himself admitted his relief that the police had caught him.
The judge said he penned a letter saying “the only positive is no real child was involved”, before adding: “If it was not for the police action, there so easily could have been.
“I could have potentially caused very real harm to a very real child, and that thought is utterly horrifying.”
Sharpe went on to say he believes prison “gives him a chance to reflect, rehabilitate, and rebuild.
“The shame, regret, and remorse will never leave him”, added the judge.
The police press release about Sharpe’s conviction did not mention the incidents from his past, and mis-stated that he had been jailed for 12 years.
