Sex offender jailed for abusing boys

A sex offender who abused two boys and persuaded a third to send him an indecent image has been jailed for 18 years.

Billy Ingram, 31, befriended families in Cambridge before having unsupervised access to their children.

In August 2022, Ingram, who was already a registered sex offender, saw a woman he knew walking with her children. He began talking to her and followed her home.

The woman let him into her property and they continued talking until the early hours of the morning when she fell asleep.

The next morning, Ingram sat next to the woman’s young son and let the boy play on his mobile phone, before sexually assaulting him.

A few weeks later the child told his mother what had happened, and Ingram was arrested.

The subsequent investigation established Ingram had befriended several other families in Cambridge and had had unsupervised access to their children.

This unsupervised access represented a breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order he was given in 2017 as part of a separate investigation.

Officers also analysed two mobile phones belonging to Ingram and found hundreds of indecent images and videos of children, as well as additional prohibited content suggesting a sexual interest in minors.

Included in the content was video footage of Ingram sexually abusing a boy. Officers managed to identify the child and visited his home in the Greater Manchester area, where it was confirmed Ingram had stayed at the address at the time the videos were recorded.

Officers visited the home of another boy in West Mercia who was also identified from the content.

The boy described how Ingram had contacted him online via a computer game in 2020, when he was ten years old, and persuaded him to send an indecent image of himself.

Ingram, of Thorpe Way, Cambridge, admitted two counts of sexual assault of a boy under 13 by touching, four of possessing indecent images of a children, one of causing or inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity and four breaches of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Yesterday (22 July) at Cambridge Crown Court he was jailed for 18 years, with an additional eight years on licence. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life.

DC Paul Evans said: “Ingram is a devious sex offender who befriended families and manipulated his way into their homes specifically so he could prey on their children.

“I’d like to commend all the children involved who assisted us with the investigation and their families. Their bravery in talking about what happened to them has resulted in Ingram being brought to justice.”

Anyone who is concerned someone may have been convicted of a sex offence, and could be posing a risk to someone, can apply for disclosure information through Sarah's Law.

Billy Ingram