 | | | | | |  | | | The Wonderland Club had an estimated 145 male members | |
| | |  | | | The Wonderland Club was found to have 145 male members. Membership was granted when an individual could provide 10,000 pictures of children being sexually abused that would then be circulated to members worldwide.
In cyberspace, the club styled itself "w0nderland", with a zero instead of the letter "o", to reduce the risk of anyone finding its web sites.
According to investigating officer, Detective Superintendent Alex Wood, "until the day of the raid, no detective had typed the word "w0nderland" into an internet search programme, as they were terrified that it would give them away and the whole thing would crash around them."
On 2 September 1998 detectives from the National Crime Squad co-ordinated the search of 105 suspects homes in 12 different countries.
Working closely with their counterparts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United States, the National Crime Squad police organised simultaneous dawn raids on each of the suspects' homes.
Time was of the essence. At the click of a mouse suspicious members could alert others, allowing them time to destroy critical evidence of pictures, electronic messages and website links from computers or camera equipment in their homes.
Working together, the international operation resulted in 126 arrests: Australia 4, Belgium 1, Finland 3, France 5, Germany 24, Italy 8, Norway 9, Portugal 3, Sweden 2, UK 15 (including Baldock who was subsequently jailed for two-and-a-half years) and US 52.
Over three quarters of a million different images and more than 1,800 computerised videos were seized containing paedophilic images of more than 1,236 different children.
Police continue to study the images for details that will help to track where the pictures or films were made.
Investigations may have stopped the group distributing images but their origination, the actual sexual abuse, remains under investigation. | | < previous |  | |
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