Abraham Berger, 40, of Hackney, was sentenced on Thursday, 14 January at Snaresbrook Crown Court to a total of 14 years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty on 30 October 2020 to the following offences:
– Sexual assault on a girl under 13 by penetration;
– Sexual assault on a girl under 13 by touching;
– Sexual assault on a boy under 13 by penetration;
– Sexual assault on a boy under 13 by touching;
– Three counts of making indecent images of children (categories A–C);
– Distribution of indecent images of children.
He will spend a further four years on licence, and an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order was imposed.
The sexual assault charges relate to two children, both under the age of ten.
Berger was part of an instant messaging chat group that discussed the sexual abuse of children, and shared indecent images and videos between them.
He was first arrested on 6 August 2020 by specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Online Child Abuse and Exploitation team.
A mobile phone found on Berger was examined and officers discovered nearly 1,600 unique child abuse images and 127 videos, graded A (depicting the most serious child abuse) to C.
A number of the videos were “first generation” and showed Berger committing the abuse.
He was charged with the offences on 5 September 2020 and first appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court on that day.
Detective Constable Chris Bailey, of the Met’s Central Specialist Crime (vulnerability) team, said: “Berger is a dangerous, predatory offender who poses a serious risk to children.
“He was living a double life, committing sickening acts of child abuse and talking about his crimes to others online.
“The protection of children, and other vulnerable people, from harm is a priority for the Met, and we have a team of officers dedicated to identifying and arresting child abuse offenders who operate online.”
If you have any concerns about Berger’s offending and any past contact he might have had with other children, we would urge you to call police on 101, or 999 in an emergency – we have specially trained officers who will listen and investigate where needed.
