Online predator convicted of abusing dozens of adults and children had preyed on victims in Luton

A ‘pupil’ of a notorious online child sex offender has admitted to blackmailing and online sex offences against children and adults – and had preyed on victims in Luton.

Between May 2018 and March 2021, 39-year-old Anthony ‘Danny’ Burns used ‘sugar daddy’ websites to trap dozens of unsuspecting females into performing sexual and degrading acts under the threat of blackmail.

He had been ‘tutored’ by Adbul Elahi, who had been jailed for 32 years behind bars in December 2021 after targeting 2,000 people around the world to commit sadistic online abuse.

Burns had attempted to contact around 600 people across the globe, including in Luton, with the intention of sexually exploiting them – including an eight-year-old girl in the US who was abused by her mother following sustained coercion by Burns.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) say work is ongoing to identify any more victims.

Elahi ‘tutored’ Burns on the psychology of blackmail, gave him techniques to gain the trust of victims and provided instruction on how they would respond to threats. Burns, originally from Lowestoft but of no fixed abode, used multiple online personas to trap his victims, including posing as the head of a model agency searching for clients. At one time, he also pretended to be an NCA officer.

Once Burns had gained the trust of his victims, he moved them over to WhatsApp, to engage in end-to-end encrypted conversations. Once his messages had been read, Burns deleted them from his and his victims’ phones, removing visible evidence.

All the victims were ordered to film themselves carrying out sexual acts in the belief they would be paid £600, but the money was never transferred to them. When he had received enough explicit material, Burns threatened to expose the pictures to the victims’ families and friends unless they sent more increasingly depraved photographs and videos.

NCA officers arrested Burns in February 2019 and his mobile phone and computers were both seized and forensically examined.

NCA Operations Manager Robert Slater said: “Anthony Burns showed remorseless cruelty in controlling and coercing his victims, including very young children, into acts which have left them severely traumatised.

“The NCA is determined to identify and pursue the most harmful child sexual offenders, including those who exploit technology to hide their activities and target large numbers of victims, no matter where they are.

The FBI assisted in the investigation and helped to locate victims in the United States. While most of Burns’ other victims lived in England, there were also people in the Channel Islands and Australia who had been targeted.

Burns used a New Zealand-based cloud storage facility to retain all of the illegally gained material. The NCA liaised with New Zealand authorities and evidence was recovered that proved Burns had the depraved material he demanded from his victims.

Burns was charged with 46 counts including blackmail, attempted blackmail, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, arranging the commission of a child sex offence; making and distributing indecent images of children (IIOC), possessing extreme pornography, malicious communications offences and failure to comply with notification requirements.

He admitted 39 counts and was found guilty of a further two today (August 30) after a two-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court. He is due to be sentenced at the same court on January 18, 2024. The remaining five charges will lie on file. All 39 of Burns’ victims on the indictment, aged between eight and 54, have been safeguarded.

In 2010 Burns was jailed for 16 months for meeting or communicating with a child under 16 following sexual grooming; causing/inciting a girl under 16 to engage in sexual acts, IIOC offences and possession of extreme pornography. And in December 2013 he was convicted of breaching his Sexual Offences Order and served a further two years in jail.

Bethany Raine, specialist prosecutor for the CPS, said: “Anthony Burns had an obsessive interest in controlling women and children into performing increasingly degrading sexual acts online for his own gratification. Burns also had a perverse desire to see others engage in sexual activity with children and animals.

“Burns belittled and humiliated victims. They became trapped in a web of fear where their own images became tools of manipulation and extortion, leaving them vulnerable to his depraved demands.”