Youth worker Cameron Osman posed as teenage girl from Birmingham to groom boys online

A 44 year-old youth worker has pleaded guilty to grooming more than 70 teenage boys online while pretending to be a 16 year-old girl.

Former children’s holiday camp manager Cameron Osman used the online alias ‘Lizzielemon’  to identify his victims on Instagram, MyLol and Love Crush, before moving them on to Google Hangouts, Discord and Skype.

The National Crime Agency investigated Osman, 44, from Southampton, and discovered he engaged his victims in sexualised chat revolving around a fantasy online world. He never identified himself while posing as a teenage girl, instead telling his victims that his camera was broken.

Osman would say that ‘Lizzielemon’ was from Bristol or Birmingham, and that he had a fetish for dominating boys in school uniform and sports kit, and for conducting teacher/student role plays. The offending took place between 2020 and 2021.

The NCA tracked Osman down to a friend’s address in Crowborough, East Sussex, in September 2021 and arrested him. He had resigned from his job at a holiday camp activity centre in Hailsham a few days earlier.

His laptop and mobile phone were seized, and Osman was found to have contacted 76 boys in the UK aged between 12 and 16 during the offending period. All have been safeguarded. Officers found no evidence of Osman grooming children at the activity centre.

Investigators in the United States also uncovered chat logs showing sexualised communication by Osman with underage boys in 27 countries. He also searched online for underage boys in Columbia, where he was planning to visit.

Osman was released on bail as the investigation continued, but proceeded to offend again, leading to his arrest on 27 March this year after a further victim was identified. Osman pretended to be a younger man on this occasion and shared photos of himself.

Osman appeared at St Albans Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday, May 2) where he pleaded guilty to 36 separate charges, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child, and making two category C indecent images of children.

NCA Operations Manager Danielle Pownall said: “Cameron Osman callously preyed on vulnerable teenage boys, masquerading as a teenage girl for his own sexual gratification.

“I have no doubt, if we had not stopped Osman he would have gone on to commit more severe offending. We will continue to work with our partners across the world to combat the perpetrators of online child sexual abuse, and hold people like Osman accountable for their crimes.” Osman is due to be sentenced at  St Albans Crown Court on Friday, 30 June.

What to do if you suspect someone of grooming youngsters online

The NCA’s CEOP Education programme supports parents, carers, children and the professionals to ensure young people have safe and positive experiences online.

Anyone being pressured or threatened into sending sexual images or videos online should remove themselves immediately from the conversation, not respond further to any contact, and report the matter to police or a trusted adult.

There are a range of resources available on our website, thinkuknow.co.uk, for adults – to support them in navigating the online world and conversations about it with their children, and children themselves – to help build their resilience online and learn what to do if something doesn’t seem right.

NSPCC urges tech companies to protect children online

The NSPCC added: “Osman’s alarming catalogue of online offences against young boys will have caused considerable harm, and it is vital that all those impacted are supported to help them recover.

“Unregulated social media is fuelling an unprecedented scale of online child sexual abuse. So it is vital tech companies play their role in preventing and detecting offending like that of Osman by taking active steps to ensure their products and services do not contribute to child sexual abuse.

“The Government must also take the opportunity when finalising the Online Safety Bill to ensure senior managers are held liable for failing to tackle child sexual abuse permeating their sites.

“Anyone concerned about a child’s safety can contact the NSPCC Helpline at [email protected].”