By Kazeem Ugbodaga
A 10‑year jail term has been handed to prolific child sexual offender David Chellapah after Met Police specialists caught him red‑handed at a pre‑arranged meeting where he intended to abuse a child.
Chellapah, 31, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, 22 May after pleading guilty in February 2026 to 21 offences linked to the online sexual exploitation of children.
The predator’s reign of abuse took place between August and October 2025. Police moved swiftly when intelligence emerged that Chellapah was communicating with a child and trying to arrange a face‑to‑face meeting to carry out sexual abuse.
On Friday, 17 October 2025, officers from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime Command, Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) team, intercepted and arrested him as he turned up to that very meeting.
DC Alan Stepkowski‑Fellows from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime Command said: “Chellapah showed clear and persistent predatory behaviour, targeting children online and attempting to escalate that contact into serious harm. Our officers acted quickly to intervene, prevent further offences and bring him before the courts.”
Forensic analysis of Chellapah’s mobile phone and other devices revealed he had been targeting multiple children aged between 12 and 15 across social media platforms.
He engaged in sustained grooming, sent sexual messages, incited children to engage in sexual activity, and attempted to arrange further meetings.
Officers identified multiple victims through recovered communications. Some children were coerced and pressured into producing sexual images and videos.
A search of Chellapah’s home address uncovered several digital devices, including a USB stick stuffed with a significant volume of indecent images and videos of children-some involving very young victims.
Following a thorough investigation, Chellapah pleaded guilty to every charge: sexual communication with a child, attempting to meet a child following grooming, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and offences related to the production and possession of indecent images of children.
The Met noted significant year‑on‑year increases in reporting of sexual offences, suggesting more victims feel able to come forward. New statistics show arrests and charges for child sexual exploitation have jumped 116 per cent over the last year.
The force has also committed £10 million to upgrade video recorded interview suites across its estates, ensuring victims can give evidence without reliving their trauma in open court.
