Assistant moderator of dark web child sexual abuse site from Eastbourne sentenced

Martin Yates, 48, from Eastbourne, was a staff member of a site called ‘The Annex’, according to the NCA. He was identified by the organisation as part of an investigation targeting those who ran it.

The Annex, which is no longer active, had around 90,000 global members who used it to share and discuss some of the most extreme kinds of abuse material, the NCA added.

Yates held the rank of assistant moderator between January and September 2020, sitting just below head moderator Nathan Bake who was jailed for 16 years last week, the NCA said.

“The Annex was run by an American man, who was sentenced to life in prison in the US in January. Kabir Garg, a psychiatrist from London, was further down the chain and sentenced to six years in prison last summer,” a spokesperson for the NCA said.

“Like Bake, Yates played a key role in ensuring the site continued to run smoothly. He was responsible for enforcing the rules by promoting or dropping other users, provided access to private and exclusive sections of the site and advised on security measures. He also passed on training to others about the role that he himself had received.

“However, Yates was less careful around his own personal security. His username on the site was ‘yates704’ and in chat logs recovered by the NCA, he also told other users first name, his age and that he lived in Eastbourne.

“‘Yates704’ was also found on ‘HACKFORUMS.NET, a clear website forum dedicated to discussion relating to hacker culture and cyber security.”

The report from the National Crime Agency confirmed that Investigators found 6,000 private messages between ‘yates704’ and other users of The Annex. The conversations varied from fantasy roleplay involving the sexual abuse of children, as well as more official conversations around the moderation of the site, advice on how to post indecent images of children and techniques to evade law enforcement.

The National Crime Agency added that its officers identified Yates using these details and the email addresses associated to him and he was arrested at his home in Eastbourne in July 2022.

When interviewed, Yates made full admissions to being the controller of his moderator account, that he was a staff member on The Annex and that he had shared child abuse material as part of his role, the NCA confirmed.

He was charged and pleaded guilty to six counts at Hastings Magistrates’ Court in November last year, including one of arranging or facilitating the sexual abuse of children, four of making and distributing indecent images of children, and one of possession of prohibited images of children, the NCA said. Yates was sentenced on Monday, February 19, at Lewes Crown Court to five years and four months imprisonment, placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and given a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Jen Cruickshank, Senior Investigating Officer from the National Crime Agency, said: “The Annex simply wouldn’t have been able to run without people like Martin Yates. He played a pivotal role in maintaining its upkeep and ensuring users from across the globe could continue accessing its horrific content, without coming to the attention of law enforcement.

“Sites such as these directly and openly encourage users to commit sexual offences against children, and those who run or access them assume they are protected by anonymity.

“However, the NCA has the determination and technical capability to target those who pose a sexual risk to children and use the dark web to try and hide themselves.

“We continue to work closely with international partners to ensure offenders like Yates are identified and brought to justice.”