A couple residing in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester sexually abused five young girls and had planned to do the same with a friend's five-year-old son. Keeli Burlingham and Peter Taylor, both aged 33, were sentenced by Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester for multiple offences.

Burlingham and Taylor reportedly met on a dating website in 2016 after both their marriages had failed. The couple liked to role-play where Burlingham would dress as a school-girl. However, the couple did not stop at role-playing when it came to indulging their paedophile tendencies.

Taylor encouraged Burlingham to take indecent images of children the couple knew. The couple took the responsibility of babysitting a three-year-old girl. Burlingham sexually assaulted the child and recorded the abuse. Taylor became obsessed with an 11-year-old girl the couple knew and he encouraged Burlingham to get indecent pictures of the young girl.

child abuse
Paedophile couple jailed for sexually abusing multiple children Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

On another occasion, Burlingham targeted a young girl and took pictures while sexually assaulting her. Taylor was on a road trip when the assault happened. She sent the pictures Taylor via Whatsapp. Taylor also took pictures of a girl getting undressed in a changing-room after he had touched her bottom in the swimming pool.

Police apprehended the couple for downloading indecent images of children. When the police went through the couple's phones, they discovered incriminating messages where the café worker and auto-electrician discussed plans of abusing multiple children.

The police found evidence of Taylor encouraging Burlingham to find ways of abusing children. They also caught the couple before they managed to abuse the five-year-old son of Burlingham's friend.

According to the Daily Mail, the mother of the child spoke about how close she and Burlingham were. She stated that the two women had been there for each other and she had completely trusted Burlingham until the police informed her of the evil intention Burlingham had towards her son.

The court found the couple guilty of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, sexual assault of a child under 13, taking and making indecent photographs of a child and encouraging the commission of sex offences. Burlingham was also found guilty of assault and distributing indecent photographs.

Taylor will serve a 15-year prison sentence while Burlingham will be jailed for 11-years. Both the paedophiles will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life and had to sign the Sex Offender Register.