Online Grooming via Gaming Platform "Roblox": Austrian Convicted

According to British media reports, he received eight and a half years in prison, four of them on probation, before the court in Norwich. The Foreign Ministry in Vienna confirmed to the "Kronen Zeitung" that the embassy in London has been in contact with the man since his arrest.

Austrian Convicted in England for Online Grooming of Child

Grooming refers to the targeted contact of adults with minors with the intention of abuse, the perpetrators gradually gain the trust of the victims. The man convicted in East England last week had flown from Germany to the UK to meet with the now 13-year-old girl, whom he is said to have contacted via "Roblox" when she was only twelve years old. This is a popular online gaming platform where users can create computer games and play with other users, as well as communicate via chats.

Mother Exposed the Case

The 36-year-old is said to have exchanged sexually suggestive images and messages with the child via a secret mobile phone that he had given her, and arranged meetings, according to media reports. The case was exposed when the mother discovered her daughter with the man in a park in Norwich last summer.

The Austrian is said to have started sending messages to the girl on the internet in May 2023, the court in Norwich heard. He claimed to be 21 years old there. The police also discovered conversations in which the man wanted to get a passport for the schoolgirl so that she could have left the country with him, reported the British daily newspaper "The Sun". He was then arrested by border guards at Heathrow Airport on June 23, 2024, as he tried to board a plane back to Munich. Abuse images of unidentified children were also found on his mobile phone.

(APA/Red)

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