SEXUAL predators who use the internet to carry out their crimes were today warned they will be caught and punished.Suffolk police's specialist Online Investigation Team led the investigation which resulted in a chatroom pervert being sentenced to two years in jail this week and today the team warned others that trying to hide such offences was futile.

SEXUAL predators who use the internet to carry out their crimes were today warned they will be caught and punished.

Suffolk police's specialist Online Investigation Team led the investigation which resulted in a chatroom pervert being sentenced to two years in jail this week and today the team warned others that trying to hide such offences was futile.

Jamie Taylor, of Newberry Road, Bildeston, was jailed for two years on Wednesday after the unit found hard evidence that he groomed a 13-year-old girl to engage in a sex act.

Pc Debbie Langworthy, who was involved in the case, said while many thought the internet offered them anonymity, computers store detailed information about the activities of their users.

She said: “They can be tracked down and they will be.”

The Suffolk team investigated Taylor's web of deceit after a police force outside the area was contacted by the girl's mother.

When Taylor's computer was seized data was retrieved showing he had sent the girl a series of messages and explicit images on April 13 last year.

In addition, and in a lucky break for the investigation, the girl's mother had set-up her daughter's computer so that each conversation she participated in over the internet would be recorded.

The “footprint” later recovered, combined with information from Taylor's computer hard drive, proved he had sent the messages.

Taylor, 27, pleaded guilty to inciting the girl to engage in sexual activity, as well as admitting making indecent images.

John Fenn, the prosecutor who put the case before Judge Peter De Mille on Wednesday, told the Star all necessary efforts would be made to ensure internet criminals were brought to justice.

He said: “It's quite easy to trace it - you can't hide. We take these cases seriously.”

Today the girl's devastated mother urged parents to take steps to protect their children when they use the internet.

She said: “If your child is chatting to a boy she has never met be very, very suspicious.

“Parents have to be very nosy and they have to ask questions to safeguard their kids.”

Pc Langworthy added: “It reiterates the importance of children and young people being aware of who they are actually talking to on the internet and that people do lie on chatrooms and are not always who they appear to be.”

Has your child fallen victim to an internet fraudster? What do you think? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.