Peterborough councillor used Snapchat to catfish army cadets

On Thursday, the 26-year-old former Conservative politician was convicted of 28 sexual offences including sexual assault and making indecent photographs of children.

Victims included children he met through his role with the Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force. Jurors also found him guilty of raping a man.

How did a man trusted by young people and elected to represent thousands of residents come to commit such serious crimes?

It is 2022 and Ray is standing for election in Peterborough, the city he was born and raised in. One of his promises: To fight for improved safeguarding services.

With more than half of the votes, he becomes the new city councillor for Eye, Thorney and Newborough.

What residents do not know, though, is that he has already broken the safeguarding rules at the heart of his campaign – something that would ultimately lead to his downfall.

Ray, who was born Rylan Fowler, was no stranger to the Army Cadets.

He joined as a child, and was quick to return as a volunteer as an adult, rising to the rank of detachment commander.

The organisation's approach to safeguarding is clear. During Ray's trial, the jury was read a statement from head of safeguarding Nathan Ditton who said volunteers "must not send personal contact communications to a cadet in any form outside of a family relationship".

Despite that, Ray was part of a WhatsApp group for the young people in his detachment, which he said was to deter bullying.

Having access to cadets' phone numbers meant he could, and did, contact them privately.

Conversations would start professionally – praise for their good work, for example.

But he encouraged some of those conversations to move to Snapchat where they would become increasingly personal and sexual.

The app is popular with young people and messages are automatically deleted within 24 hours.

For some of the boys, they spoke to him on the app without even realising.

"Who are you?" one boy asked when a Snapchat account he did not recognise reached out to him.

It was a story echoed by other young people. Chelsie would make contact , introducing herself as a young woman from Peterborough. Some recalled her saying she was a teenager who attended a local school; others a woman in her 20s.

Chelsie would send explicit photos and videos of a woman and request similar images in return.

"That," pointing at Ray in the dock on the first day of his trial, "was Chelsie," said prosecutor Claire Matthews.

One young man grew suspicious of Chelsie and made a telephone call to a number associated with the account. The voice at the end of the phone answered: "Hello, Rylan Ray."

The court also heard how the devices linked to the account were traced back to Ray's home address in Westgate, Peterborough.

Ray's barrister Rhodri James described him as someone who "struggled to make friends and saw friendship in the wrong places".

He began caring for his mum, who attended the court for some of the trial, when he was 12.

Matthews described his behaviour as "grooming" and said he had used his fake persona to "catfish" his victims.

Catfishing, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is the act of deceiving someone online using a fictional persona, often with the intent of luring them into a relationship.

One man, who had been contacted by Chelsie as a child, was later contacted by an account using the same name and pictures on the dating app Tinder.

Cambridgeshire Police became aware of Ray's offending after two boys made complaints at school. Three mobile phones and one laptop were seized.

A total of 704 indecent images of children were found on Ray's devices, including 73 of the most serious Category A classification.

At least five children were contacted by the Chelsie account. Not all of the children in the images found on Ray's devices have yet been identified.

Ray appeared to have deleted them from his phones but digital forensics specialists managed to extract them.

He claimed Chelsie was actually an Army cadet who he became aware was taking advantage of their colleagues and that he sent the images to his own phone so he could confront them about it.

When asked, he refused to reveal the true identity of who he believed was Chelsie.

Some boys exchanged nude photos with Ray directly.

One victim said he felt he had no choice but to comply with Ray's requests because he feared his own progression within the cadets would otherwise be hindered.

Another, who did not return images, told Ray he was not gay in an attempt to get the messages to stop. The response was: "There's a little bit of gay in everyone."

The abuse was not conducted exclusively online. Ray sexually assaulted three young people he met through the cadets and raped a man he met on a night out.

Ray also used his role as a councillor to further his relationships with teenage boys.

He had been the chairman of Peterborough City Council's licensing committee.

During the trial, one man said that while he was underage, the councillor took him on nights out in the city and that Ray's presence meant he was not asked to prove his age.

The parent of another victim said in a statement Ray took her son to parties that were attended by Ray's "acquaintances from the council".

He was removed from the council's Conservative group in February, becoming an independent member, and in May's local election he did not contest his position.

Ray also had jobs at HM Courts and Tribunals Service, the Ministry of Justice, and two schools in the Peterborough area.

At Ipswich Crown Court, it took the jury of four men and eight women about 11 hours to find Ray guilty of 23 offences. He had already pleaded guilty to five offences against one of his teenage victims.

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