A former Romford car dealership worker who called himself “Daddy Doll Maker” has been jailed for plotting to rape a four-month-old baby.
Stuart Ross, 50, of Orlando Drive, Pitsea, made detailed plans to abuse two young children, devising a sophisticated grooming ritual that he said would normalise the abuse for the little girls.
He even searched online for devices he could use in the abuse.
Ross met a single mum online in November 2020 and quickly began plotting with her to sexually abuse her children.
But she was actually an undercover police officer, who claimed she lived in Yorkshire with two daughters, one aged four years, the other aged four months.
The pair exchanged dozens of messages and even had phone calls to plot the abuse, in which he described his intentions so graphically that this paper cannot reproduce his comments in print.
He repeatedly expressed an intent to rape both children in each other's presence, with the mother's active participation.
After just 11 days of chat, the pair planned to meet on the coming Saturday and carry out the abuse.
However, police then decided they could not wait to arrest him as he arrived in Yorkshire.
Officers from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) raided Ross’s home, near the Burnt Mills Industrial Estate, that Wednesday and seized his electronic devices, which revealed “dozens of searches for abusive material”, said Essex Police.
However, extensive enquiries unearthed no evidence that any child had ever been sexually abused by Ross.
Ross was charged with two counts of attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence - one for each child he had intended to abuse - plus one count of publishing an obscene article (the graphic descriptions of intended child abuse he had sent to the undercover officer).
He admitted the publishing offence but stood trial at Basildon Crown Court earlier this summer on the more serious charges of attempting to arrange child sexual abuse.
The case took six years to come to court, owing to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the prioritisation of cases in which real children had been abused.
Ross told jurors he did experience sexual gratification from the fantasy of raping the children, but never truly intended to act on that fantasy.
However, analysis of his devices showed he had researched travel routes to Yorkshire and devices he could use in the abuse.
In their chats, he had asked the undercover officer for sexual images of the children.
He also had an account on an encrypted messaging service called Wickr, which NBC reported in 2022 had become “a go-to destination” for paedophiles. It was shut down in 2023.
The jury convicted him in June. He was sentenced on Thursday (August 13).
Defence barrister Michael McDonagh described his client as "a man who has lived a hardworking, uneventful, dare I say relatively dull existence," until he committed these "isolated" offences.
He said Ross had suffered a mental health setback after his father's death, the end of a 20-year marriage, and then the Covid-19 pandemic.
He had left his career and devoted his recent years to a farm, the lawyer said.
Interviewed by the probation service after his convictions, Ross changed his story and claimed he had not gained any sexual gratification from the fantasy.
Probation found he showed little insight into his offending and posed a significant future risk to children.
"The facts demonstrate that you had discussed arrangements, clearly full of enthusiasm, and were a matter of days prior to your anticipated trip to fulfil your intentions," said sentencing judge Recorder Tony Badenoch KC.
"I do not accept that you do not have a sexual interest in children. It follows that you have been untruthful to the probation service and to the court."
In that regard, said the judge, Ross had shown "no real remorse".
He handed Ross an extended sentence of nine years in prison, plus two on extended licence.
Ross cannot be considered for parole until he has served a minimum of six years.
He will also be subject to a 15-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) restricting his use of electronic devices and the internet.
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