A predatory and dangerous paedophile who abused a young child and used chatrooms to plan the abuse of others has been jailed for 21 years.
Craig Henton, 54, was tracked down from an encrypted messaging app where he had said he had planned to commit sexual offences against a five-year-old girl.
Investigators found more than 4,000 indecent images and videos at Henton’s home in Port Talbot.
He admitted 18 offences in October 2025, ahead of his sentencing at Swansea Crown Court on Tuesday.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Henton was a “predatory and dangerous paedophile” who had abused a child and had shown “willingness to meet up with others… to satisfy his depraved sexual gratification”.
The NCA, which led the investigation, said Henton had told app users between February and May 2024 that he had been a paedophile for 25 years.
He had said he had befriended a vulnerable mother to gain access to her daughter and groom her with the intention of sexually abusing her.
His phone had showed he had participated in hundreds of chats with users about the sexual abuse of children and discussed meeting up with them and their children so he could commit abuse.
During the NCA investigation, a total of 4,570 indecent images and videos were found on a device seized from Henton, including 918 in category A, the most serious type.
The NCA said the child that Henton said he had sexually assaulted, who was aged between three and five, had been identified and safeguarded.
Henton was arrested again in May and June 2024 on suspicion of assault of a girl under 13 and arranging the commission of a child sex offence, according to the UK’s law enforcement agency.
When questioned by investigators, Henton made no comment, but was charged with 18 offences.
The NCA said further indecent images of children had been recovered from another device that had been seized from Henton in April 2024, totalling almost 1,400 images.
In addition to his sentence of 21 years in prison, Henton was given a further six years on licence and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
Henton will be on the sex offender register for life, and his victims were granted indefinite restraining orders against him.
Danielle Pownall, from the NCA, said Henton “joined chat groups set up purely to enable and justify the sexual abuse of children”.
“He was open about being a paedophile for 25 years and his intention to target vulnerable women so he could abuse their children,” she said.
“The NCA will continue in our work with partners in the UK and internationally to protect children from vile abusers like Henton.”
