Michael Lymath
Rape of a child *
Sentence
20 years imprisonment with eight years on extended licence
Michael Lymath, 43, from Southport, groomed and sexually abused several children, including a boy and five girls, via social media and online games. He befriended them by talking about everyday things, then escalated to sexual conversations, sending indecent images of himself and demanding explicit images from them. He paid victims with money, vouchers, or promises of payment to continue, and became bullying and threatening if they tried to stop. He met some victims in person, travelling around the country including to Cumbria and Nottinghamshire, and raped one in a transit van he owned, offering to pay for taxis. The abuse was discovered when one victim told her mother. He was questioned on 8 December 2024, and searches of his home and van revealed over 2,450 indecent images, including 13 extreme category, along with devices, clothing, and handwritten notes. He was charged with 34 counts.
Pleaded guilty to 27 counts including meeting a child following sexual grooming, paying a child for sexual services, sexual assault, possession of indecent images and rape of a child. The sentencing judge described the case as one of the most serious of its type, calling Lymath 'every parent’s nightmare' and his actions 'predatory', 'manipulative' and 'monstrous'.