Croydon Paedophile Caught After Postman Delivered His Depraved Letter to Wrong House

A paedophile who evaded detection by sharing abuse images with fellow perverts through the post has been caught after a parcel was wrongly sent to a neighbour.

John Baker, 66, refused to send abuse images online, following high-profile successes by police in cracking down on the illegal practice.

Instead, he used the postal system to send pictures and depraved fantasies written down on paper to other child sex deviants.

By turning Luddite and shunning online communication, it was more easy for Baker to avoid police. However his activities were exposed when the postman delivered a letter discussing his child sex abuse to one of his neighbours.

When officers began to investigate they discovered that police in Hampshire had been notified of two other letters in 2011, which failed to mention Baker by name - but did include his home phone number.

When officers raided his home in Croydon, south London, they discovered hundreds of indecent images of children on computer hard drives and USB memory sticks.

Police admitted it had been harder for them to detect Baker's crime because he used snail mail instead of the internet.

Det Sgt Haley Stanesby said: "A dangerous sex offender has been identified and put behind bars and he will also be subject to all the constraints and checks upon his release under the sex offenders register.

"Baker was not known to us before this case was brought to light and did not use the internet to communicate or send and receive images, which can make it slightly harder to identify and detect what he was doing."

Baker pleaded guilty to 12 counts of making, possessing and distributing indecent images of children. He was jailed for two years.