Casefile True Crime - Case 115: Operation Cathedral

Episode Date: June 22, 2019

In the mid-1990s, police caught wind of an online paedophile ring known as The Orchid Club, in which members were using chat rooms to create and trade child exploitation material. Several American men were arrested, but detectives soon discovered The Orchid Club was just the tip of the iceberg.  --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Milly Raso Edited by Elsha McGill For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-115-operation-cathedral

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. This episode features serious and often distressing subject matter pertaining to the sexual abuse of children and the production of child exploitation material. It will not be suitable for all listeners. The names of several witnesses have been changed.

Schoolgirls Alison and Mary had been best friends for years, spending most of their time together at school, soccer practice and sleepovers. The pair lived in Greenfield, a small Californian town located within Monterey County, approximately 30 miles inland from the Central Coast. With a population of just over 7,000 residents, it was a relatively close-knit, safe community where many of the townspeople knew and trusted one another. Mary lived in a modest one-story farmhouse situated on a ranch amongst Greenfield's rolling hillside.

Her best friend Alison spent the night there often, enjoying the sprawling rural space that provided a contrast to her suburban home. Mary's father, 36-year-old Ronald Reaver, was an unemployed truck driver and former prison officer. He had plenty of spare time to supervise his four young children and their friends, joining them as they played together. Despite all the fun to be had, Alison would occasionally return home from her visits to Mary Reaver's house, moody, grumpy and overtired.

In one instance, her mother Cheryl asked what was wrong and warned Alison she would no longer be allowed to go to Mary's house if she continued to come home in an irritable mood. Alison simply replied, it has nothing to do with Mary. At around 4pm on April 8, 1996, Cheryl was watering the front lawn at her home when she heard the phone ring. She rushed inside to answer it, discovering Mary's mother, Leah, was on the other line. As the women's only connection to one another was through their children, Cheryl knew the call must have something to do with her daughter, 10-year-old Alison.

Leah revealed that she had some extremely difficult news to deliver regarding her husband. She explained, Ron was arrested for child molestation. On the last weekend of March 1996, Mary Reaver hosted a slumber party at her house for a group of her friends at her father's suggestion. Her best friend Alison was in attendance, as were sisters, 8-year-old Emily and 6-year-old Melissa. At the conclusion of the party, Ronald Reaver invited the girls to spend a second night. Emily and Melissa's mother declined the offer, wanting to spend some time with her children.

The next day, whilst preparing for a trip to the beach, Melissa suddenly blurted out to her mother that during the sleepover, Ronald Reaver had touched her inappropriately. Melissa's admission prompted her older sister to divulge that she too had been molested by Reaver. However, her abuse extended beyond the night of the sleepover. It had been a year-long ordeal that Reaver had coerced Emily to remain silent about. Their mother was horrified. She regarded the Reavers as a nice, church-going family, and she trusted Ronald Reaver wholeheartedly,

permitting him to take her daughters on various outings and leaving them alone in his care as he taught them how to play computer games. Emily told her mother, I thought Ron was my friend, but he lied. Knowing her young daughters would never make up such a serious story, she reported the allegations to the police. Ronald Reaver, who had no prior criminal record of child molestation, was placed under arrest. His wife Lea was left with the difficult task of phoning the parents of the other children

who had attended the slumber party to inform them of her husband's actions. In the call to Alison's mother Cheryl, Lea warned, You need to talk to your daughter and see if she's been a victim. Cheryl was in shock and paused to gather her thoughts. Given the close and loving relationship she had with her daughter, she was certain Alison would have confided in her if anything untoward had happened at the sleepover. With great care, she gently questioned Alison about Ronald Reaver's behaviour. Alison crossed her arms and resolutely denied having been harmed before shutting herself

away in her bedroom. This strong reaction raised Cheryl's concerns and she entered Alison's bedroom, finding the 10-year-old curled up on her bed in the fetal position. It was in that moment Cheryl knew something was seriously wrong. What followed was the most difficult 45 minutes of Cheryl's life, as Alison described her distressing ordeal at the hands of Ronald Reaver. Reaver had been grooming Alison since she was 8 years old, beginning with fleeting moments of inappropriate touching before escalating into severe acts of abuse.

The next day, Cheryl and her husband escorted Alison to the police station to report their daughter's abuse. As a third survivor had now come forward, the case was escalated to the Monterey County Sheriff's Department, who began an immediate investigation, starting with interviewing all the children who attended the slumber party at the Reaver House. They soon learnt that Alison's ordeal had been vastly different to Emily and Melissa's. As she slept in her friend Mary's bedroom, Alison was awoken by Reaver, who led her into his study where another man was waiting.

The two men proceeded to assault Alison in front of a computer, documenting the abuse with a digital camera. Detectives conducted a search of Ronald Reaver's house, where they seized his digital camera and computer from the study. The Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted the Monterey County Sheriff's Department to uncover the computer's data, discovering Reaver had amassed thousands of pornographic images of children. Online chatroom transcripts were also found of discussions held within global online communication

tool Internet Relay Chat, better known as IRC. IRC hosted thousands of chatrooms dedicated to a variety of topics, and it was here that Ronald Reaver began interacting with like-minded pedophiles. These interactions mostly occurred within two chatrooms, but members occasionally communicated directly through email. In early 1996, Reaver created a private, invitation-only chatroom titled Orchard Club, wherein members electronically distributed illicit images of children to one another under his leadership. The only way to join Orchard Club was to be recommended by an established member, with

the group then voting to determine whether the newcomer was allowed to join. If accepted, they would be given the password to enter Orchard Club's private chatroom. Eventually, Orchard Club grew to include 16 members who interacted with one another under usernames like Too Tough, Eldude, PoeBear, and Cessna, in an effort to distance themselves from their real-world identities. Reaver's computer was programmed to save text files of all the depraved conversations that occurred whenever he was online, allowing investigators to implicate other Orchard Club members. In an effort to lessen his eventual punishment, Ronald Reaver agreed to assist detectives

in identifying the other members of his online pedophile ring. He logged into Orchard Club in the presence of law enforcement agents, giving them full covert access to the sinister group. It was unlike anything investigators had ever seen. Many members not only viewed and exchanged illicit material, but also took part in assembling and producing the content themselves. Sometimes they met in real life to film one another, carrying out their crimes. At least eight children were abused in direct connection with the club.

Although Orchard Club members employed usernames to hide their real identities, every computer that connected to the chat room did so via the internet. This didn't afford complete anonymity, as every time a web connection is established, a unique string of letters and numbers is formed to link a user to their online activity. This code is known as an IP address, and to details the user's internet service provider, city and state, but not their residential address or geographical location. When federal agents obtained the IP addresses from Orchard Club's 16 members, they discovered the individuals were spread across the country and even overseas.

They then subpoenaed the customer records from the various internet service providers listed in each user's IP address to obtain the name and address of each suspect. Ronald Reaver's accomplice during the slumber party assault of 10-year-old Allison was identified as another Californian man, 54-year-old Santa Rosa truck driver Melton Lee Myers. Myers had two previous convictions for child molestation from 1971, for which he served only 60 days in prison. During the Orchard Club investigation, it was discovered that Myers hadn't been properly registered as a sex offender, and therefore, the Santa Rosa community was not aware of

the threat he presented to children. A search of Myers' residence revealed he was in possession of approximately 20 pornographic images of children aged between 2 and 12, taken by him at or near his home. In an effort to identify those featured in the images, police placed notices in the local papers reaching out to parents whose children had contact with Myers. A videotape obtained from his home also captured footage of a meeting between himself and four American members of Orchard Club, in which the men casually spoke about their crimes. As police initiated arrests, several Orchard Club members double-crossed their collaborators

by fully cooperating with authorities in exchange for leniency. Eventually, all 16 members were formally identified and arrested. Eleven were from the American states of California, Oklahoma, Washington, Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Mississippi, and Texas, while the remaining three were from Canada, Finland, and Australia. Collectively, the men were found to be in possession of a total of 50,000 indecent images of children, and all were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute child pornography. Transcripts of online conversations within Orchard Club revealed that days before the

slumber party held at Ronald Reaver's home, members were expressing their excitement over what they referred to as a pedo party. That weekend, Reaver and Myers live broadcast at Allison's Assault to several Orchard Club members, who were complicit in the attack by requesting certain acts be performed. Following this discovery, six of the men, including Reaver and Myers, were additionally charged with joining or abetting in the sexual exploitation of a minor. Although the internet had been used to exchange illicit content in the past, authorities declared this the first case they were aware of where the internet had been used for the real-time

molestation of a minor. Assistant US Attorney Tony West called it a very serious and very tragic case that illustrated how new technology could be used to exploit others. In total, five victims came forward alleging to have been abused by Ronald Reaver between 1991 and 1993. Reaver faced 18 counts for various state and federal crimes, with the possibility of life in prison. In return for a 30-year prison sentence, he agreed to plead guilty to his federal charges

of conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a minor, conspiracy to traffic in child pornography and sending and receiving pornographic images of children over the internet. Yet, he chose to plead not guilty for state charges relating to child molestation. Reaver's accomplice, Milton Myers, faced five counts of molestation, to which he plead guilty. Both men remained silent during court proceedings as their young survivors bravely took the stand. Allison chose to testify because she had learned not to blame herself for the abuse she endured and wanted to stand up for other children who were unable to speak for themselves.

She appeared wise beyond her years before the court, maintaining poise as she identified herself in the explicit images taken by Reaver and Myers and shared within Orchard Club. Poignant victim impact statements revealed the true suffering the men had caused, with Allison's torment manifesting in night terrors. To support her daughter at home, Cheryl quit her job teaching, halving the family's income and leaving them overwhelmed with unpaid bills. Allison's 19-year-old brother had since fallen a semester behind in college and struggled to find the motivation to return.

Her state employee father used 1,400 hours of vacation and sick leave to attend court appearances, therapy sessions and to stay home with his daughter, inevitably requesting a transfer so the family could start fresh in another town. For his state offences, Ronald Reaver was found guilty and ordered to serve an additional 125 years in prison. Judge Robert Moody thanked the jury for, quote, Taking an unpleasant and difficult journey into a side of life I'm sure you never wanted to see.

We all know this is a journey you never wanted to make, but somebody had to do it, and you did it well. Survivors families thanked the efforts of prosecutors, saying the verdict gave them their lives back. Melton Meyers' attorney attempted to diminish his client's accountability, characterising him as an impaired person who was not completely responsible for being the person who he is. He even boldly remarked that his client could have done a lot of things that were far worse. Under California's three strikes law, offenders who had previously been convicted of two or

more serious felonies faced a significant increase in their subsequent prison term. The law aimed to prevent such offenders from receiving anything lower than a life sentence. As this was Meyers' third offense, and therefore third strike, he was sentenced to over 300 years in prison. When Greenfield sisters Emily and Melissa later saw Ronald Reaver chained and shackled on television, their mother asked the young girls if they knew why he had gone to jail. They responded, yes, because we put him there. Over the following years, trials were held throughout the United States for the remaining

American members of the Orchard Club, and Allison and her family travelled across the country to testify at each. The misconception that abused children only came from dysfunctional, unattentive families infuriated her mother Cheryl, who expressed that obedient, well-loved, and cared-for children were also a target for predators. She refused to accept any apologies from the accused men, saying, they're all sorry when they're caught. These are not trading cards.

These are real children. The prison sentences imposed on the remaining members of Orchard Club ranged from 12 months to several years. Some were ordered to pay restitution fees to survivors, with one member forced to pay close to $60,000 to Allison, which her family used to help cover the associated costs for counselling and medical care. During one trial, Judge Tim Leonard stated, the damage done to innocent young children is something that can't be repaired.

When a child is harmed, the family is harmed. Cheryl described her daughter Allison as her hero, gifting her with a pet horse to help her recover from the trauma of her ordeal and overcome her psychologically fragile state. Nevertheless, the ramifications of that March night in 1996 would continue to haunt the family forever. Cheryl stated, it's still unfathomable to me that there are pictures of my child and videos of my child that were trafficked and there's no stopping it once it's out there. They were given varying sentences for the participation and direction of that night

when she was molested online. But her sentence is a life sentence. Our child is going to deal with this as a part of her history forever. Following the arrests and convictions, the Orchard Club chat room went silent. Although their efforts to dismantle Ronald Reaver's self-made pedophile ring were a success, American investigators remained determined to apprehend those others responsible for producing the heinous content shared within. As they examined the remnants of the club, investigators noticed many of its members

had also accessed another private IRC channel, which was still active. A chat room titled Wonderland. Calculated efforts had been made to prevent unwelcome to users from accidentally stumbling across this chat room. Wonderland's title began with a hash sign and featured a zero in place of the letter O. Furthermore, access was restricted by passwords and security checks. As with Orchard Club, investigators understood that the only way for them to gain entry into Wonderland was to apprehend a member who would be willing to provide them with

a key in exchange for leniency in criminal prosecution. One active Wonderland user named Sheepy had communicated frequently with convicted child molester Ronald Reaver via emails sent from a UK-based web address. US authorities notified their British counterparts, who used Sheepy's IP address to trace the user to a residential property in Hastings, a resort town on England's Sussex coast. The house sat opposite a school and was occupied by computer consultant Eam Bulldog. The determining Bulldog was Sheepy or an innocent user who accessed the same computer as the unidentified pedophile.

Detectives put him under surveillance. They soon learned Bulldog rarely left the house, except to work the night shift at the Oxford University Press offices. He didn't associate with anybody else, instead spending the majority of his spare time at home alone, logging onto the internet for hours each day at the exact time Sheepy was active online. As one detective remarked, he had no other life. In October 1997, police raided Bulldog's home and seized his computers, finding what

they described as a massive library of child pornography, consisting of 42,000 images. The enormous collection was four times larger than anything police computer forensic expert Nick Webber had ever seen before. He discovered that in the six days prior to Bulldog's arrest, the men had distributed just over 1600 images to 17 other internet users. According to Webber, it was a distribution on an absolutely massive scale. Computer forensics experts examined Bulldog's computer to gain entry to Wonderland, but extensive safeguards employed by the chatroom community prevented their access.

Although it was not unusual for online predators to use sophisticated defence tactics to prevent police from accessing illicit material, Wonderland operated on a technological level like no other. The chatroom was protected by an artificial person known as a bot who ensured strangers could not enter. There were also seven separate security checks to pass through and two electronic gatekeepers known as Alice and Sandra. A code originally developed by the Soviet Union's security agency, the KGB, encrypted

all communications within. After five months of examining Bulldog's computer, experts managed to uncover one key document associated with Wonderland, titled Basic Guidelines. The document offered tips to readers on how to evade detection and, quote, confused the hell out of the police. It also established the Rules of Wonderland Club, in which members going by the usernames I Hand, Raven One, and Jazz were referenced as being responsible for vetting new members, sometimes meeting them in real life to screen them in person before the final decision was

put to a group vote. It was clear to investigators that these three users held a leadership position in Wonderland and exerted considerable power over others within the community. As it seemed to likely they would have greater insight into the true identities of members, it became paramount for the police to identify who I Hand, Raven One, and Jazz were in the real world. Meanwhile, in the greater Manchester town of Stockport, local mother Barbara received a shocking phone call from her nine-year-old daughter Lucy.

Lucy was at the home of one of her friends and called her mother to inform her that she would not be coming home as she wanted to stay with her friend's father, Gary Salt. The 36-year-old taxi driver and former Royal Air Force engineer had befriended Lucy through his daughter and often invited the young girl over for dinner and sleepovers. Following the concerning call from her daughter, Barbara ordered Salt to bring Lucy home, threatening to call the police if he didn't comply. Salt did as he was told, and the next day, the nine-year-old told her mother the truth about what was really going on whenever she visited her friend's house.

Over a period of several months, Gary Salt had groomed Lucy, and once he had earned her trust, he began taking indecent images of her in his bedroom. Barbara alerted Manchester Police and Gary Salt was promptly arrested, with forensic computer experts uncovering over 20,000 pornographic images of children on his computer. Salt featured in some of the imagery himself, having cowardably blurred his own face whilst leaving his victims clearly visible. Salt had also fashioned a noose that he kept on standby should he ever be caught for his crimes.

Salt's arrest turned out to be an unexpected breakthrough for British police, as his electronic trail led a deep into Wonderland's secret chat room, where he operated under the username Jazz, one of the club's three leaders in charge of vetting newcomers. Facing life in prison for his crimes, Salt agreed to grant police access to Wonderland in return for a reduced sentence. Without his assistance, the Central Intelligence Agency estimated it would have taken 400 officers 44 years to unravel the layers of encrypted information required to gain access to the entire club.

Salt subsequently pled guilty to multiple counts of rape, indecent assault, and gross indecency, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Upon entering Wonderland, it soon became evident that local police did not have the adequate knowledge or power required for an investigation of this magnitude. Two computer consultants from specialist companies were therefore recruited to work on the case full-time. It was their job to sift through Wonderland's extensive data and defeat the digital security specifically designed to keep them out.

By the time authorities uncovered Wonderland, they believed the club had been in operation for at least five years. Priding itself on containing the most dedicated and trustworthy pedophiles, Wonderland had an exorbitant entry fee of 10,000 new or original indecent images of children. Like Orchard Club, members interacted anonymously under usernames such as Satan, Guess Who, Me Again, Smirk, and Caesar. The chat room was active 24 hours a day, with dozens of users conversing back and forth whilst trading a vast library of child exploitation material.

Detective Superintendent John Stewardson told BBC television program Panorama, quote, People don't realise that these images were not just children undressed romping about on a beach. These images were absolutely hideous. On some occasions, the abuse these children suffered was the worst kind of possible abuse you can imagine. The highest status Wonderland members documented their abuse of children and made that content available to others.

Gary Salt was one such member. He produced and liberally shared his own illicit content whilst earning additional recognition from the club for having been abused as a child himself. As investigators unraveled Salt's influence, they discovered he styled himself as Wonderland's chairman and was head of its British arm. He was also known to invite other pedophiles to his stockport home to exchange illegal images and to meet the children he abused in person. Detective Superintendent John Stewardson, quote,

Some of them travelled to Salt's home address and were pictured sitting on his bed with the children, not in indecent poses, but just so that they could get a buzz saying that they've met the stars of the movie. That's the sort of mentality of the people we're dealing with. In April 1998, the investigation into Wonderland was handed to organised crime experts, the British National Crime Squad. From their London headquarters, the 1500 member team launched a large-scale police inquiry named Operation Cathedral to track down Wonderland's elusive members.

Using Gary Salt's computer, they were able to covertly observe the chatroom, with computer forensics expert Nick Webber explaining to BBC television programme Panorama. We worked out a technique where we could actually watch them live on the internet, so we were sitting very quietly and watching them coming and going. They were in effect coming past us, but couldn't see us. We were able to backtrack and find out who they really were. It wasn't without risk. News of Gary Salt's arrest had reached Wonderland, and as a result, its members were acting

more cautiously than usual. Investigators understood, they had to tread very carefully. With Operation Cathedral underway, investigators continued to reach out to internet service providers to collect the names and addresses of customers with IP addresses linked to the club. Upon obtaining this information, detectives dispersed across the country to conduct a mass surveillance of 13 addresses where Wonderland members were suspected to operate. It was imperative they prove exactly who at each address was utilising a computer at the

precise time the internet was being used to access the site. In some cases, the computer was situated in a share house, university or library, making the process of identifying the correct suspect far more complicated. By May 1998, Operation Cathedral was closing in on one Wonderland member who operated under the username SpankDaddy. This user's online presence was easier to monitor than others as they were constantly active within the chat room, engaging in long, depraved conversations with co-members. The user was traced to a terraced house in a backstreet of Dartford, Kent, a town 18

miles southeast of London. It was the home of computer technician Gavin Seegers. Detectives monitored Seegers' movements following him to Dartford's local Seekadets headquarters, a youth organisation specialising in waterborne activities, where they discovered their suspected pedophile was a volunteer youth leader who was in contact with 25 children aged between 10 and 18 years old. Investigators soon learnt that Seegers was particularly disturbed as he often expressed he had fantasies about abducting, raping, torturing and killing children.

The National Crime Squad faced the dilemma. Seegers' online behaviour indicated he was a serious threat to children, but arresting him immediately would risk alerting other Wonderland members to Operation Cathedral's existence. As they considered their next step, it was decided that Seegers would be placed under strict surveillance whenever he conducted his volunteer work, ensuring he didn't leave with any children. If Seegers was ever alone with one or two miners at a time, investigators were instructed

to place him under arrest. By June 1998, two months into Operation Cathedral, National Crime Squad detectives had identified over 200 unique persons from 33 nations had interacted in Wonderland, making it the largest global internet pedophile ring to date. Detective Superintendent John Stewardson explained, We could have adopted the attitude that we would deal with people in this country and we could have done it very quickly and it would have all been done and dusted sooner than it was.

But in truth, that would not have been the way to go forward, because basically, every one of those images represented a disaster to a family somewhere. And we decided we would go forward by getting as many countries as we could on board with us, so that we could maximise our evidence. The monumental investigation posed many challenges. The sharing of sensitive criminal intelligence, network operation and investigative leads between law enforcement agencies throughout the world required meticulous planning, whilst adapting to the differing police powers, resources and knowledge of each nation.

Operation was relayed on a strict need-to-know basis, and detectives were instructed not to type the word Wonderland into any internet search engine, out of fear it would somehow expose their undercover activities to club members. By July, a parallel police inquiry titled Operation Cheshire Cat was established in the United States for the purpose of pursuing American Wonderland members. US Customs Computer Forensics Expert Jim Fertrell was assigned to the task of examining the mass of data handed over from British police, which included a four-page list of usernames, email addresses and possible US locations of suspects.

As special agents tracked each suspect down, they discovered most hid their depravity behind stable marriages, long-term relationships, respected families and successful careers. One Wonderland member was a professor at the University of Connecticut, another was a retired US Air Force pilot, whilst others were law and medical students. By the end of August 1998, after months of round-the-clock online surveillance and covert real-world stakeouts, investigators had built a clearer picture of Wonderland's members and the potential danger they posed. Risk assessments were constantly performed to determine whether the need to gather evidence

was eclipsing the safety of children. It was agreed that undercover operations would immediately cease and suspects be apprehended if any posed a threat to a minor, but when exactly to act remained a point of contention. Meanwhile, Wonderland users were becoming suspicious, with some secretly encoding their illicit images in an effort to hide them. They had also become extremely active in providing daily updates to one another on any police investigations that might be honing in on their group. Local police agency Interpol held an urgent meeting in France, where law enforcement agencies

from around the world convened and concluded that it was time to act. Suspects were becoming more vigilant, and to the longer they waited, degraded the risk of jeopardizing the entire operation. They decided it was time to start making large-scale arrests. In an effort to preserve evidence and prevent Wonderland members from one country warning the others, at exactly 4am Greenwich Mean Time on September 2, 1998, an estimated 1,500 police and child protection officers in 12 countries simultaneously raided the homes of over 100 suspected Wonderland members.

The Wonderland raids needed to be conducted at the exact same time across the world. Otherwise, a few seconds was all it took for club members to type a warning to the chatroom, enabling their co-conspirators the opportunity to swiftly destroy evidence of their crimes. Working together to the exact second, authorities in the United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States kicked down doors and stormed through homes, efficiently placing over 100 suspects under arrest. While the vast majority of Wonderland's members were men, some women were also involved.

At dawn, police closed in on a small German village where Wonderland user Gronki lived a quiet life with his girlfriend. He was oblivious to the fact the police knew about his online activities, later telling BBC's Panorama. It hit me like lightning. I was suddenly dragged back into the real world. Of course, I had always been worried about it being illegal and completely immoral, but my obsession got the better of me.

The last thing on my mind was arrest. I never expected to find the police on my doorstep. In the country's west, a key Wonderland member known as Ultima was taken into custody at a government guesthouse near the Riverside City of Bourne. Ultima was part of the committee that ran Wonderland, but in real life, he was a senior civil servant. It was the middle of the night in the United States when the raid commenced. One of the dozens of addresses targeted was the North Carolina flat linked to Wonderland

user Amy. In reality, Amy was 31-year-old medical student William Rosa, who lived with his unsuspecting girlfriend. By day, Rosa was studying to become a doctor at Chapel Hill College, with his training including a stint in a children's hospital unit. By night, he spent hours online secretly downloading images of child abuse, amassing a collection of 70,000 images. He operated in Wonderland under a female username, knowing that male members would trade more

generously if they thought he was a woman. Over 800 miles away in St. Charles, Missouri, the trailer belonging to Wonderland member Bart was also raided. He enjoyed a high status within the club for being a content producer, with other users acknowledging him straight away whenever he appeared online. Bart turned out to be 34-year-old Scott Alamire, who lived alongside several families and worked in a nearby store. Alamire's trailer resembled a prison.

Some of the doors were four inches thick, and he had built an inner sanctum out of plywood. These found weapons and explosives, as well as a homemade video documenting his crimes. Girl's underwear was strewn about, with additional pairs found stuffed in plastic bags and hidden in the trailer's ductwork. Scott wasn't the only Alamire family member in Wonderland. His 60-year-old father, Fred Alamire, also participated in the club. At 5 a.m. in England, eight suspects were arrested and had their computers seized, with a seven-and-a-half-ton lorry required to transport all the equipment back to the National Crime

Squad headquarters. Following the bust, Detective Superintendent John Stewardson announced, "...the content would absolutely turn the stomach of any right-minded person. It is disgusting stuff. People who engage themselves in this kind of depraved activity have felt relatively secure up until now, in the knowledge that the Internet is virtually unpoliced. This coordinated action around the world has demonstrated that that is no longer the case." Before Operation Cathedral swooped on Wonderland, the largest ever seizure of online child pornography

was 7,000 separate images. After examining over 100 Wonderland members' computers, police uncovered a staggering 750,000 images of child abuse, along with 1,800 video clips featuring some of the most degrading footage they had ever witnessed. One Italian man owned 180,000 images alone. As some of the computer hardware was so highly protected and impossible to decode, experts estimated the true number of illicit images amassed by the group might have been upwards of 2 million.

Officers given the difficult task of viewing the material broke down in tears. Detective Chief Inspector Alex Wood told BBC's Panorama, "...certainly one series that sticks in my mind is a series that was labelled Colby. Colby would appear to be a child of no more than a year old, and the initial images are of a young toddler, very blonde hair to lad, walking in a hallway in nappies. That image goes through some 20 or 30 slides and ends up with the most horrific abuse of a child. Certainly, like the rest of the team, I guess that one image probably stays with you, and

that for me would be the most horrible that I saw." Some of the encryption used by Wonderland members was so advanced that even the world's leading code-breaking experts were unable to crack it. The computer of 40-year-old UK-based computer salesman Stephen Ellis was sent to government intelligence agencies in the United States, where experts ran code-breaking programs on his system for a month with no success. Ellis had ended his own life just days after his first court appearance for his involvement with Wonderland.

If he was still alive, he would never have faced trial, as investigators were unable to obtain the evidence required to use against him. Stephen Ellis was one of seven Wonderland members who took their lives following their arrest. It took years for authorities to intercept, preserve, analyze, and prepare all available evidence before taking Wonderland members to trial, many of whom were granted bail throughout this process. After a two-year effort, in February 2001, the seven remaining UK-based members pleaded

guilty to conspiracy to distribute indecent images of children. He accused were mostly computer consultants, technicians, and taxi drivers. At the forefront was 31-year-old Ian Baldock, whose association with convicted awkward club child Milester Ronald Reaver led to the complete downfall of Wonderland, along with his closest cohort, 29-year-old youth volunteer Gavin Seegers, regarded as one of the club's more dangerous members. 30-year-old unemployed man David Hine spoke publicly about his involvement in Wonderland, telling BBC's Panorama that he had found child pornography online within 24 hours of gaining

access to the internet. He showed no remorse for his crimes, saying it was great to find a like-minded people who shared his interest in pedophilia. He explained, quote, We didn't see it as abuse. We just saw it as some members being in relationships with children. The net draws you in. It sucks you in.

I had people I could talk to. I had people I could trade images with. I never had so many friends before. 46-year-old Frederick Stevens had only been involved in Wonderland for six months, but had already amassed close to 9,000 images and over 600 videos within that short timeframe. Despite having a young family, he made no effort to protect the obscene content on his computer with a password or encryption. In contrast, 25-year-old Andrew Barlow had configured his computer in such a highly

secretive manner that authorities were only able to retrieve 200 obscene images from what they believed to be a much larger collection. 31-year-old Ahmed Ali maintained that 90% of the 13,000 pornographic images of children found on his computer were, quote, Friendly, harmless stuff. 36-year-old Anthony Skinner was one of the offenders who visited Gary Salt's Stockport Home to meet the children Salt abused in his videos. Skinner emailed photos of his encounters to Wonderland members as a twisted memento.

In defense of his actions, Skinner's lawyer stated, The internet sucks you in and becomes an obsession. It becomes your life. It is a dichotomy of repulsion and attraction, fantasy, and reality. On February 13, 2001, the seven guilty men appeared together at Kingston-upon-Tems Crown Court to receive their sentencing. Prosecutor David Perry detailed the defendant's secret and secure digital underworld, telling the court.

Each of them was involved in the distribution of indecent material on the internet throughout the world. The indecent material depicted children involved in sexual acts with adults and also with other children. All of the children involved were under the age of 16, and in one case, the child was only three months. Each defendant had a huge quantity of indecent images stored in the hard drives of their computers and on compact discs.

There was a vast international lending library whose members swapped a vast quantity of pedophile images. Judge Kenneth McCrae addressed the defendants who stood passively in the dark, telling them, You directly or indirectly exploited the most vulnerable in our society. Children represent the future they should be cared for and protected. You have betrayed that principle. The use and abuse of children for your own gratification has horrified me. You have used your computer skills to do this.

The photographic records are proof of your perversity. According to their counsel, the defendants were suffering from a classic pattern of pedophilia where abuse was perceived as affection and had simply paned to their basic sexual interests. Judge McCrae deemed these claims to be nonsense and was equally critical of Anthony Skinner's assertion that he was only recruited into the ring for his encryption skills, telling him that he was like so many others, still in denial. Under British law at the time, the maximum sentence that could be imposed for such offences was just three years, but Judge McCrae had to give credit to the offenders for pleading

guilty. As such, for their participation in the world's largest known online pedophile ring, the defendants were handed prison sentences ranging from 12 to 30 months. They were ordered to serve at least half their allotted term and remain on license for the remainder, which meant they would be released back into the community under certain conditions, including the forfeiture of their computer equipment. Five of the men were placed on the sex offender's registry for seven years, while Liam Baldock and David Hines were the only two placed on the registry for life.

The Wonderland trial was viewed by many as a test case for dealing with pedophile activity on the internet, and the controversial penalties handed to the perpetrators were immediately condemned. Whilst the sentences were as severe as investigators for Operation Cathedral expected, a coalition of seven UK charities campaigning for child protection said they were deeply disappointed by the results. While praising the efforts of police in tackling internet crime and child sex abuse, they worried the lenient sentences meant that pedophiles would continue to thrive online.

Ruth Dixon, the deputy chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, told BBC News journalists that the internet must not be seen as a safe, anonymous haven for people to do what they like. Director of the Child Protection Charity Kidscape, Dr Michelle Elliott, called the sentences a joke, saying, You would get a longer sentence for accumulating masses of parking tickets or for burglary. I am absolutely stupefied by this leniency. That sends a clear message that these crimes are not being taken seriously.

The courts should be concentrating on the pitches these men collected of horrific child abuse which encourages more abuse of vulnerable children. If we want to stop people doing things like this, 12 months is no deterrent, especially when they will be out in half the time. London-based attorney Robin Bynow believed plea bargaining was inappropriate in such a case, explaining, Whether it is a lightest sentence or not, they are effectively getting cash back for not wasting the court's time.

I think where there is a case like this, where material of this nature is being disseminated, it sends out the wrong message if nobody gets the maximum sentence. The judicial system owes it to the nation when something is being dealt with for the first time, as is the case here, that all the issues are considered in a full-strength trial. Nevertheless, for the officer in charge of Operation Cathedral, Detective Superintendent Peter Spindler, the convictions were a victory. When the crime squad took on the operation, we were aware that they could only be sentenced

to three years in prison, but we had to take on the operation to highlight the level of appalling behaviour on the internet. It has contributed to change. It's a great relief to conclude what's been a very long operation. We can combat crime on the internet. We won't tolerate child pornography in the UK. If anybody thinks that in a modern, civilised society that a sexual preference for children is acceptable, then they're wrong.

And the prison sentences in the future will be three times as long as they've been today. As the Operation Cathedral arrests were underway, a new law was proposed in the UK to increase the maximum sentence for such offences to ten years. It was passed by British Parliament in January 2001, and although this was too late to impact the Wonderland trials, it ensured pedophiles appearing in court in the future would face far more severe sentencing. As a result of the inquiry, harsher legislation was also introduced overseas. Following the breakdown of the Wonderland network, officers who took part in Operation

Cathedral were praised for their diligence and the thankless task of viewing all the illicit material. The investigation had a profound impact on those involved, with officers having to undergo compulsory psychological debriefing and some retiring from the force altogether. The Deputy Director-General of the National Crime Squad, Bob Packham, stated, It has been a difficult and distressing investigation, and I hope that our actions have prevented further abuse of children across the world. The National Directors of Charity Organisations Save the Children and End Child Prostitution

Pornography and Trafficking released a joint statement that read, We applaud the raid on the internet child pornography ring known as Wonderland. The raid is a timely reminder of the need for a coordinated approach to fight this threat to children, but also a message of hope for the results that cooperation can bring. With 40 million internet users worldwide, the threat is a truly global one. Child sex offenders who formerly met to swap child pornography in secret can now do so from any country in the world, in the apparent security of their own homes. The ease of spreading such images also threatens to introduce new and wider audiences, a fact

that is especially alarming given the higher correlation between the practice of viewing child pornography and the commission of sex offences against children. The statement went on to explain the importance of raising awareness of the often anonymous dangers facing children when they log in online and end it with, We congratulate all those involved in Operation Cathedral. In an exclusive conversation with ZDNet News convicted Wonderland member David Hines admitted, If it wasn't for the internet, online have gone on to rape a child. Other pedophiles will start their own channel, and then they'll go looking for each other

and read group, and the group will eventually be as big as it was with new members, with new pitches, and with all of the old pitches which are still floating around out there. His statement echoed research conducted by the National Association of Probation Officers, which concluded that most online pedophiles do not seek treatment as they don't consider themselves criminals and view their actions as victimless. Spokesperson Harry Fletcher said, We are only beginning to understand the scale of this crime. It is a major problem that their offending behaviour is not being challenged.

Operation Cathedral faced criticism in its aftermath as only a fraction of Wonderland's 200-plus users were ever identified and arrested. Of those who were, less than half faced trial. Although the pedophile ring was found to be established in 47 countries, just 14 participated in the inquiry and were invited to the Interpol conference where the raids to take down Wonderland were planned. Some countries lacked the legal framework required expertise or political will to tackle the issue, or their law enforcement agencies were considered too corrupt to participate

in a sensitive international inquiry. According to a report released by the International Network to End Child Prostitution Pornography and Trafficking, excluded countries included Ireland, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, Spain and South Africa. Holland and Canada were initially involved but pulled out of the operation shortly before the raids were scheduled to go ahead. The Dutch police took action against a number of suspects later on, but the Canadian authorities never tackled their 14 suspects.

Despite these criticisms, Operation Cathedral inspired several other global inquiries in the preceding years, including Blue Hawker, Candyman, Artis and Twin Odysseus, which resulted in the identification of thousands more online predators from across the world. In 2001, the British National Crime Squad was at the forefront of another international crackdown titled Operation Landmark, which saw the arrest of another 130 suspected pedophiles from 19 countries. As a result of that investigation, authorities were able to add another 60,000 obscene images to its database to assist in victim identification and global missing children cases.

In the UK, the seven convicted Wonderland members were steadily released from prison, with some serving less than half of their allotted time. Upon their release, several of the men changed their names and went on to re-offend. In 2012, former Wonderland member Gavin Seegers changed his name to Gavin Smith and was re-arrested after he was caught online discussing his fantasies of sexual abuse and torture against children. He pled guilty to nine offences of publishing obscene material and was handed a three-month suspended jail sentence.

On December 11, 2010, a staff member at Manchester's Old Trafford Library contacted police to report that a man had been witnessed viewing and uploading indecent images of minors. He had been using the library's computers near the children's book section. When the offender reappeared at the library two days later, police placed him under arrest, seizing two computers and four memory sticks. He was identified as 49-year-old Anthony Andrews of no fixed address. Analysis of the computers revealed Andrews had been interacting with a highly sophisticated global pedophile network that was under investigation by the FBI and authorities in Italy.

A search of the hostel where Andrews was staying uncovered a locked box that contained journals full of hint-written sexual fantasies about children. He also possessed a guide on how to groom and abuse children, plus another on how to survive prison and what to do upon release. As it turned out, Anthony Andrews was the new identity adopted by convicted child molester and former Wonderland chairman Gary Salt. In April 2006, Salt was released from prison on licence after serving just half of his 12-year sentence for sex crimes against children.

He broke his conditions shortly after, buying computer magazines and receiving discs in the mail from a convicted sex offender. He was subsequently recalled back to prison, where in January 2008, prison officers raided his cell and found literature outlining sexual encounters with children, and evidence to suggest Salt was plotting a new online pedophile ring. Salt was released from prison again on April 16, 2010 and joined the Manchester Library Service the day after. By December, he had downloaded 250,000 illicit images and videos of children.

Detective Constable Barry Conway of the Greater Manchester Police stated, Salt is a convicted sex offender who has shown no desire to rehabilitate. He has some sort of perverse status among other sex offenders, and in the sickening circles in which he moves, it is something he clearly relishes. Gary Salt had admitted to 25 offensives, including making indecent images of children, possessing indecent images, attempted distribution of indecent images, possessing extreme child pornography and breaching a sexual offender's prevention order. Until it could be proven he no longer posed a risk to children, Salt was jailed indefinitely,

with sentencing Judge Peter Lakin telling him, You are clearly a committed and very active pedophile who is not willing or able to address your distorted behaviour. The National Crime Squad cropped and sanitised a portion of the 750,000 images seized from Wonderland to allow investigators to better examine them for clues to help identify and locate the victims. They scrutinised the backgrounds of the pictures for any details that could help indicate where or when they were taken, such as electrical sockets, furnishings, magazines or wallpaper.

Detective Chief Inspector Alex Wood stated, For me, the worst images were the ones showing the expression on the child's face and not necessarily what's happening to them. I can't help but think of the damage that's been done. Out of 750,000 images, the faces of 1,263 individual children have been isolated and compiled into a database, categorised by gender, age and ethnicity. Interpol has distributed this database to police forces worldwide and it is only available to view through law enforcement agencies that investigate online child sex offences.

National Crime Squad Detective Superintendent John Stewardson believes that the work of Operation Cathedral will only be complete when authorities can identify all the nameless victims in the database. Investigators hold concerns that many of these victims are at risk of further abuse or even death. Detective Constable Barry Conway of the Greater Manchester Police stated, Every indecent image recovered tells a story of harrowing abuse and we are dedicated to identifying and bringing to justice anyone involved in such offending, whether it is

for the sharing of images or the abuse itself. Only 17 children featured in Wonderland's immense library have been positively identified.