Mohammed Nayum was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on 19 December after detectives from West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) helped to track him down.

In autumn 2018, Nayum befriended a vulnerable boy, providing him with drugs in exchange for the boy performing sexual acts on him.

As the investigation into the 31-year-old progressed, West Midlands Police asked ROCU to carry out an operation to target Nayum.

Nayum engaged in an extremely sexualised chat with someone he thought was a 12-year-old boy. However, officers from ROCU captured this evidence and shared it with West Midlands Police leading to his arrest in May 2020.

Due to the pandemic, Nayum’s case did not come to trial until June 2022.

Nayum, of Small Heath, Birmingham, was charged with nine offences including sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child, drug possession and possession of indecent images of a child.

West Midlands Police successfully fought to keep Nayum in prison while awaiting his trial to protect the public.

Nayum pleaded not guilty to all the offences, except possessing the class B drug, and was found guilty by a jury on six of the eight indictments.

In addition to spending 10 years in prison, he will be required to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life and was also handed a sexual harm prevention order.

Detective Constable Mike Woodburn, from the Ladywood Complex Investigation Team, said: “We want to praise the victims and witnesses for their support and bravery in giving evidence in this case, especially given the long but unavoidable delays. Good results like this are the result of a huge amount of hard work and this case shows the commitment of officers in the Public Protection Unit to get justice for victims.”

Detective Inspector Stephen Wills, from West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “Thanks to West Midlands detectives bringing this person to our attention at their earliest opportunity, officers were able to proactively target Nayum and ensure that he was arrested and kept in custody whilst awaiting trial.

“My team’s number one purpose is to safeguard children in the West Midlands region; arresting and convicting offenders like Nayum is the main way we achieve this. Offenders looking to target children in West Midlands should know that there is no safe space online where our team cannot reach them.”