Police praise paedophile's victim

Police used Costi's computer to trace him to his parents' house

Senior officers who led the case against convicted paedophile Lee Costi have praised a schoolgirl for coming forward to report his actions.

But Det Supt Jackie Alexander from Nottinghamshire Police warned there may be other victims too scared to come forward and report him.

"It is impossible to say how many victims there may have been.

"If this case alerts any other victims we would encourage them to come forward."

'Two chatrooms'

She added: "We were fortunate that a young Nottinghamshire girl was brave enough to tell her parents."

Costi, 21, is a convicted paedophile who groomed his victims through internet chatrooms.

Police found 355 chat log files detailing his conversations with young girls on two online chatrooms.

Grace Hall, prosecuting, told the court that the Nottinghamshire schoolgirl had been flattered by Costi's attention.

"She says she complied (with Costi's requests) so that she could tell her friends so they would not continue to think of her as boring."

Rupert Hallowes, defending, told the court that Costi was a socially isolated young man, immature for his years and who had been bullied at school.

He has since been diagnosed as suffering from depression.

Parents' house

Police were waiting to catch Costi in January 2005 as he arrived to meet his third victim at a train station but he did not show up.

The internet police operation, monitored by Interpol and police in the UK, Australia, America and Canada, used Costi's computer records to trace him to his parents' house.

Mrs Alexander revealed that analysis of his computer identified a paedophile from Poland and another from Hawaii who had links with him.

Jim Gamble, head of the Virtual Global Taskforce, added: "Child sex abuse is one of the worst crimes imaginable and while the internet is a very vibrant environment for children and young people, it is also a place where people have to be careful.

"If in any doubt, members of the public can report inappropriate behaviour by clicking on our website and then rely on the police to take matters further."