Stephen Wilkie
Stephen Wilkie was handed a suspended prison sentence for using a chatroom where a rape was live streamed. NCA

A London man who was part of a sickening internet paedophilia ring has avoided, jail even though he watched a live stream of a six-year-old boy being raped.

Stephen Wilkie, aged 52, from Ealing in West London, used a chatroom when the rape was being live streamed. He became the fifth offender to be convicted following a National Crime Agency investigation.

He also used the chatroom to view indecent explicit pictures and was found to have 56 indecent photos of children, 11 in the most serious category for such images.

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Wilkie used usernames including 'more' and 'mmm' as he made regular visits to the chatroom between July 2015 and January the following year.

He was caught when the abuser in the live stream was identified in the US. Wilkie was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

He was given a 60-day rehabilitation order, 100 hours unpaid work, placed on the sex offenders register for ten years, and made subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order at Kingston Crown Court.

The rape was live-streamed to the chatroom on 22 July 2015 by the abuser, William Chandler Augusta – a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania who was jailed in America in February this year for a minimum of 45 years.

His victim was identified by police officers in the US and protective measures were taken..

Graham Ellis, Operations Manager at the NCA, said: "Offenders with a sexual interest in children sometimes believe online anonymity will keep them safe from law enforcement. They're wrong.

"National Crime Agency officers are dedicated, highly trained and equipped with advanced technical capabilities.

"Offenders who use these chat rooms re-victimise children by viewing images of them being abused. We will find them and bring them to justice."

In September, Philip Crabtree, 35, who emailed sick instructions to Augusta as he carried out the abuse, was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison.

Christian Luecking Johnson, 36, who was not online during the attack but logged on shortly before and afterwards, was jailed for 20 months in August.

Earlier this year, two other men, youth worker Darren Williams, 44, and primary school teacher Wayne Brookes, 43, were jailed for 11 years and one year eight months respectively after NCA investigators showed they were online in the chatroom as the rape was streamed.