The conversation soon turned to more personal matters. Sally confessed that she had a boyfriend who was much older than her whom she had met online. Sally explained that she had now had sex more than fifteen times and enjoyed it enormously. shygirl351 coyly admitted that she herself was a virgin, but it was clear from her subsequent responses that she had been intrigued and hugely impressed by Sally’s sex life.

A few chats later, after the pair had swapped pictures of one another (Bevan had simply downloaded a slightly blurred headshot from someone else’s internet profile), Sally emailed shygirl351 a picture titled ‘Youth and Experience’.

‘He’s like soooooo, soooooooo old,’ Sally wrote in a note accompanying the image, ‘but she’s about your age, isn’t she? I’ll tell you what, I get really hot and bothered looking at them together. It must be how I look with my boyfriend. I think it’s so amazing when it’s someone like that with girls our age, don’t you? The thing is, you don’t want someone from school, they’re still kids. You need someone more experienced, someone who knows what they are doing. That way, you know the first time is going to be incredible. And every time after that too. And they have money so they can buy you anything you want.’

The following week Sally said she had met an older man online who seemed really nice. She wasn’t interested herself because she already had a boyfriend, but she had told him all about shygirl351 and he was extremely keen to chat to her.

That same afternoon, Bevan created a new character for himself – that of sportsfan52 – and knew that his pursuit of shygirl351 could finally begin in earnest.

Bevan knew exactly what he was doing. The techniques he utilized to ‘groom’ shygirl351 had been tried and tested by thousands of other online predators like himself and were almost guaranteed to lead to success. Like others of his kind, he felt a certain kind of pride in understanding the intricacies of the grooming process, and believed his particular skills raised it up a good few levels to the point where it was almost an art form.

Since that first day as sportsfan52, Bevan had been steadily working his way through the five stages of grooming. The first, friendship, had been easy. Sally had done all the groundwork and it took no time at all for shygirl351 to agree to meet in a private chatroom and email over a picture of herself in her school uniform.

From there Bevan moved on to developing the relationship, urging shygirl351 to talk to him about whatever problems she was having in life in order to create greater trust between them.

sportsfan52: how are you today?

shygirl351: bit down. Anniversary of gran’s death

sportsfan52: Oh I’m so sorry. My wife died a couple of years ago so I know how much it hurts

shygirl351: how awful for you

sportsfan52: It was very sudden. No pain. Sadly these things happen to us all at some time or other but we must not dwell on it

shygirl351: why not?

sportsfan52: You have to let them live on in your heart. Remember the good times, not the pain of the loss

shygirl351: k

shygirl351: did you have kids?

sportsfan52: no. glad because it would have been hard on them

shygirl351: let’s change the subject. Too depressing

sportsfan52: No problem. But if you ever need to talk, I’m always here

With trust established, Bevan then set about finding subtle ways to assess the level of risk involved in pursuing his latest target. shygirl351 didn’t have a webcam, so he was unable to confirm what she said (making the issue of trust all the more important), but she explained that her computer was in her bedroom and that her parents rarely came in. She had an older brother but he had a computer of his own. The chances of anyone else using the machine apart from her were virtually nil.

It was all good. For any online predator the worst-case scenario is a computer in a living room or family room where anyone can walk by at any time and witness the conversation. With an element of privacy in place, Bevan knew he was able to talk to shygirl351 about whatever topic he wanted to with total freedom. And if his target ever showed signs of nervousness or hesitation, good old Sally was always on hand to provide encouragement and reassurance.

As the days went by, Bevan endeavoured to bury himself deeper and deeper into her psyche. Whenever she spoke of a minor insecurity, he would trade one of his own in order to bring them closer. When shygirl351 said she might have to wear glasses, Bevan lied and said he already did. When she worried about her acne, he wrote back that he had been known as pepperoni pizza face at school but that it had soon cleared up. When she admitted – unprompted – that she was worried her breasts were not growing as quickly as those of her classmates, he felt a frisson of excitement wash over him as he replied that he preferred them on the small side.

It was a landmark moment. Bevan knew that he was the only person in the world shygirl351 felt comfortable discussing such things with. Whatever happened between them, he felt certain she would not tell anyone else about it.

From there Bevan gently began to challenge her, seeing how far he could push things. He would make occasional assertive statements to show that he was firmly in charge of the relationship.

shygirl351: so what made you choose me to talk to?

sportsfan52: Sally said you sounded nice

sportsfan52: and you sounded a bit more mature than most girls of your age

sportsfan52: But you must have lots of friends online. Why did you want to talk to me?

shygirl351: I have my mates, but there are a lot of time-wasters though

sportsfan52: there are plenty of them about

shygirl351: yeah

shygirl351: the way you say that makes it sound like you’re not one of them?

shygirl351: I mean, I don’t want to waste your time

sportsfan52: I have for many years now, I have come across timewasters from people just getting kicks to those who chicken out at the first sign of any action

shygirl351: tell me about it

sportsfan52: It sounds like you are not one of them

shygirl351: by the way, I like the sound of ‘many years’

sportsfan52: I take it you know my age

shygirl351: not exactly no

shygirl351: I guess you’re a little older than me lol

shygirl351: but that’s why I’m interested

sportsfan52: you’re 13, right?

shygirl351: yup

sportsfan52: that’s a lovely age to be

sportsfan52: I’m 42 in 4 weeks

shygirl351: ok

shygirl351: thinking about that

shygirl351: yeh I’ve thought

shygirl351: it’s cool with me

sportsfan52: good

shygirl351: wanna know why?

sportsfan52: yes, if you would like to tell me

shygirl351: because you’ve got lots of experience

shygirl351: and you’re funny too

shygirl351: are you smiling right now?

sportsfan52: yes pmsl

shygirl351: me too

shygirl351: lmao

sportsfan52: sounds like we are on the same wavelength …

shygirl351: could be

He hadn’t always been like this. Far from it. He wasn’t some man in a dirty mac that hung around school playgrounds. He was a successful businessman, a man with the world at his feet. The web, he told himself, had led him astray. It was just too easy. There was no way he would ever try talking to girls of this age in real life, but in cyberspace, behind the anonymity of a made-up username or a false identity, he feared no one and nothing. The numerous social networking sites were a veritable hunting ground for curious young girls. There were hundreds of shygirl351s out there. All you had to do was log on.

It was time to move on to the next stage.