Yahoo News Woman discovers lover she met on dating app is paedophile who used her WiFi for child sex chats
A woman discovered her new love who she met on a dating app was actually a paedophile who used her WiFi for child sex chats.
Rebecca Shorten has spoken of the shocking moment she discovered her partner, Daniel Devlin, was a convicted paedophile, using her internet to discuss child abuse. Rebecca met Daniel on an online dating site and believed she had found someone trustworthy.
After months of online conversations, they finally met in person and quickly became close, frequently visiting each other's homes. However, four months into their relationship, police arrived at Devlin's house early one morning and arrested him in front of Rebecca.
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It wasn't until his court appearance days later that the 38-year-old learned the horrifying truth about her partner's crimes and that he had used her WiFi to commit them. Devlin, who was caught by undercover police sharing disturbing fantasies about a four-year-old and attempting to arrange sexual activity with girls aged seven and one, has now been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his appalling crimes.
After seeing him imprisoned, Rebecca shared with Chronicle Live the moment she discovered her partner's actions.
She said: "It was like my world had collapsed. I was confused, I was angry and I felt sick. I felt absolutely disgusted. What makes me wary is, me and him really clicked. We have the same sense of humour, we got on so well so it just came as such a shock. It's left me in an absolute mess. But I'm glad it's come out. Thankfully we were only together a short time."
Rebecca met Devlin on the dating site Badoo in September last year. "We hit it off immediately, and we spoke on the phone for nearly six hours the first night we met," she said. "We video chatted and got on like a house on fire. We spent nearly two months chatting daily and making plans to meet."
Devlin, who initially introduced himself as Jake, later confessed to using a pseudonym online. Despite her initial reservations about meeting someone new, Rebecca even applied under Clare's Law to check if he had a history of domestic violence.
After receiving no concerning information and feeling reassured, she began visiting Devlin's place in Blyth, and he would come to see her in County Durham. "Before there was any invite for him to come to my house I did all the online forms for Clare's Law," she explained. "Apart from him lying about his name I couldn't find anything online which caused concern."
Their relationship took a significant step forward when Devlin visited Rebecca's home in December.
"It was amazing, we had a great time and we arranged for me and my dogs to go to his the following week for New Year," she recounted. "From there I was either staying at his or he was staying at mine."
However, Rebecca's romantic bliss was shattered when police arrived at Devlin's home early on March 31 to arrest him.
"I was at his house when he was arrested," Rebecca explained. "They came to the house at 7am. I was put in the living room and they took Daniel into the bedroom and they didn't let me know what was going on, they just took him away. He had a safe in his bedroom. After the police left they had left the safe open and left his sex offender paperwork on the bed. I didn't know what to do."
Devlin later called Rebecca to inform her of his charges. Compelled to understand the full story, she attended South East Northumberland Magistrates' Court on Easter Monday and was appalled by what she heard.
At a later hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, harrowing details came to light about Devlin, of Coburg Street in Blyth, who was snared by undercover police officers while sharing depraved fantasies about a four-year-old and attempting to organise sexual encounters with young girls aged seven and one. The pervert, who disturbingly referred to himself as "Paedo Pay Piggy" online, indulged in appalling conversations.
After his initial arrest and subsequent bail, he was apprehended once more for believing he was communicating with a mother of two minors, explicitly detailing his perverted desires. Posing as 'Phil', he aimed to meet the "woman's" daughters, who were only seven and 11 months old.
In a chilling phone call with the supposed mother, Devlin declared he "would be into anything", the court was told.
It also emerged that Devlin had a dark history, with a prior conviction leading to 15 months' imprisonment back in 2017 for seven charges related to indecent images. Consequently, he was placed under a sexual harm prevention order and ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.
Rebecca spoke about the ordeal, saying: "I attended court to hear what the charges were. They were worse than I expected, and unless you sat in court and heard the transcripts aloud, it is hard to wrap your head around. I wanted to hear it for myself."
In an added disturbing turn, Rebecca realised that Devlin, who didn't have internet access at his home, had exploited her WiFi password to carry out his crimes.
"He didn't have the internet, and I didn't think anything of it," she said. Last month, as Devlin was sentenced, the court learned that he was caught after investigations revealed the IP address he was using belonged to his partner.
He had also violated his sexual harm prevention order because the internet history on two phones confiscated from him had not been recorded, and he had not informed the police about acquiring the phones. Devlin admitted to publishing an obscene article and two counts of breaching the sexual harm prevention order related to earlier offences.
He also pleaded guilty to attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence and failing to comply with the sex offenders register by not registering the pseudonym 'Phil' used in chats with undercover officers. Devlin, 38, from Coburg Street, Blyth, received a sentence of four years and nine months in prison, along with an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and he must sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Reflecting on the past, Rebecca notes there were signs that her new man was not who she believed he was, including one instance when Devlin confessed he had previous run-ins with the law. "There is a few little things," she remarked.
"He didn't give me his real name at the start, but I can forgive that as I know some people don't use their real name on dating sites."
Rebecca shared details of the shocking moment Devlin admitted his run-ins with the law, saying: "He said; 'I have been in trouble with police before, it's nothing serious. I'm embarrassed to tell you.' He said it involved someone underage but it was a misunderstanding."
She's still grappling with the implications of what occurred. "The feelings of shame and hurt I have from knowing he had access to my internet, that he had access to my phone and his own phone that he shouldn't of had," she revealed. "I feel like I have been used, it's horrible."
She continued by expressing her distress over being linked to the situation: "Having people associate me with this is a shame I don't think I will ever shake, but I never asked for it, nor was I aware of it."
Despite feeling deeply betrayed, Rebecca maintains contact with Devlin as he is imprisoned. "I have spoken to him and he's tried to explain a lot of stuff to me," she explained. "I'm in a bit of a horrible limbo place at the moment because I still talk to Daniel. It's given me a lot of closure because he's been honest to me about everything. I genuinely didn't think anything like that would ever open up."
She then spoke about her conflicted emotions since his incarceration: "I don't want to step back until he's got the right help in place. I'll never ever forgive him, but at the same time I can't turn my back on someone that has genuinely asked for help."
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