Online groomer who posed as teenage girl to abuse boys jailed

A man who groomed boys online by posing as a teenage girl has been jailed, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said.

Cameron Osman, 45, from Southampton, was sentenced to 13 years in prison plus five years on licence at St Albans Crown Court on Wednesday.

An NCA investigation found the former children’s holiday camp manager had engaged more than 70 teenage boys in sexualised chat between 2020 and 2021 by pretending to be a 16-year-old girl, using the online alias “Lizzielemon”.

Osman contacted victims on sites including Instagram, Google Hangouts and Skype – and told them his camera was broken to avoid revealing his identity.

He would say “Lizzielemon” was from Bristol or Birmingham and had fetishes for dominating boys in school uniform and sports kit and conducting teacher/student role plays, the NCA said.

The agency tracked Osman to a friend’s address in Crowborough, East Sussex, and arrested him in September 2021.

He had resigned from his job at a holiday camp in Hailsham a few days earlier, but officers found no evidence of Osman grooming children at the camp, the NCA added.

Chat logs uncovered by law enforcement showed sexualised communication by Osman with underage boys in 27 countries, whilst he was planning to visit Colombia and had searched online for underage boys there.

After being released on bail, Osman re-offended – this time pretending to be a younger man – and was arrested again on March 27.

Osman pleaded guilty to 36 separate charges at St Albans Crown Court on May 2, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and making two category C indecent images of children.

The NCA said he was also given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order alongside his sentence.

NCA pperations manager Danielle Pownall said: “Cameron Osman pretended to be a teenage girl to prey on boys for his own sexual gratification.

“His offending affected dozens of children, who now have to live with the consequences of his actions. I would like to commend their bravery in coming forward, which has helped put Osman behind bars.

“The NCA will continue to target those engaged in online child sexual abuse and bring them to justice.”