Kayleigh Haywood

Governments may only just be waking up to its potential for harm, but criminals recognized it years ago, especially those who saw it as a new and easy way to communicate with kids directly, to befriend them, gain their trust, and then exploit them sexually.

Groomers, we call them.

To me, just plain sex offenders.

What is it? What is it? What is it?

In 2015, Kayleigh Haywood became one of their targets.

Kayleigh was quite young for her age.

BBC News Midlands correspondent, Phil Mackie.

She lived in a small town in Leicestershire with her mom and her mom's partner, and she did what 15-year-olds normally do, which was hang out with her friends, go to school, and watch reality TV and everything else.

[gentle music] [notification pop] [ding]

In this case, everything else was social media.

Like so many girls her age, Kayleigh could often be found glued to her mobile phone, following her friends' accounts, keeping up with fashions and, of course, the latest gossip.

[gentle music] [notification pop] At the end of October 2015, a new face appeared on her timeline.

[upbeat ringtone] Luke Harlow gave himself the online moniker Fun Times.

He appeared cheeky and flirty, posting photos of himself at parties with a big smile on his face, but that was his virtual persona.

The real-life character was very different.

Luke Harlow was unemployed.

Uh, he was living in social housing.

He was somebody who clearly had an interest in young girls.

He sent messages to dozens and dozens of them, and occasionally, a bit like a fishing expedition, one or two of them would reply and start to engage with him, and he would then befriend them, he would flatter them, he would engage in conversation.

And in the sort of thing that we've seen a lot, he would effectively groom them to eventually invite them to his place.

At 27, Harlow was a college dropout and addicted to porn.

He lived in Ibstock, just five miles from Kayleigh's village of Measham.

But although he'd been bombarding her with messages for two weeks, the two had never actually met.

All that was to change on November the 13th.

On the Friday night, Kayleigh told her mom and dad that she was going to have a sleepover with a friend.

Governments may only just be waking up to its potential for harm, but criminals recognized it years ago, especially those who saw it as a new and easy way to communicate with kids directly, to befriend them, gain their trust, and then exploit them sexually.

Groomers, we call them.

To me, just plain sex offenders.

What is it? What is it? What is it?

In 2015, Kayleigh Haywood became one of their targets.

Kayleigh was quite young for her age.

BBC News Midlands correspondent, Phil Mackie.

She lived in a small town in Leicestershire with her mom and her mom's partner, and she did what 15-year-olds normally do, which was hang out with her friends, go to school, and watch reality TV and everything else.

[gentle music] [notification pop] [ding]

In this case, everything else was social media.

Like so many girls her age, Kayleigh could often be found glued to her mobile phone, following her friends' accounts, keeping up with fashions and, of course, the latest gossip.

[gentle music] [notification pop] At the end of October 2015, a new face appeared on her timeline.

[upbeat ringtone] Luke Harlow gave himself the online moniker Fun Times.

He appeared cheeky and flirty, posting photos of himself at parties with a big smile on his face, but that was his virtual persona.

The real-life character was very different.

Luke Harlow was unemployed.

Uh, he was living in social housing.

He was somebody who clearly had an interest in young girls.

He sent messages to dozens and dozens of them, and occasionally, a bit like a fishing expedition, one or two of them would reply and start to engage with him, and he would then befriend them, he would flatter them, he would engage in conversation.

And in the sort of thing that we've seen a lot, he would effectively groom them to eventually invite them to his place.

At 27, Harlow was a college dropout and addicted to porn.

He lived in Ibstock, just five miles from Kayleigh's village of Measham.

But although he'd been bombarding her with messages for two weeks, the two had never actually met.

All that was to change on November the 13th.

On the Friday night, Kayleigh told her mom and dad that she was going to have a sleepover with a friend.