DOZENS of children have been removed from dangerous situations this year thanks to the work of cybercrime experts at North Yorkshire Police.

The safeguarding of these vulnerable youngsters is one of the success stories for the county's Digital Investigation & Intelligence Unit during the past year.

The unit consists of the cybercrime team, which supports computer and online investigations and advises businesses and the public on cyber safety, and the digital forensics unit, which expanded this year to allow the examination of seized computers and mobile phones.

The DIIU also includes the online abuse team - eight detectives across the force area who proactively investigate suspects in North Yorkshire involved in online child abuse. This could involve the sharing of child abuse images, grooming, and live-streaming of abuse.

Det Con Steven Harris said: “Since April we have begun over 160 separate investigations into individuals in North Yorks who use the internet to commit sex offences against children.

“We are proud of the work we do in this area but at the same time it is alarming just how widespread this kind of offending is. In almost all cases the suspects have no previous criminal record of any kind and a few have been in positions of trust.

He said he considered the fourth team within DIIU as “the real unsung heroes” of cybercrime. This is the victim identification unit, who monitor countless images and videos of child abuse to track down and support the victims, as well as target offenders.

“We have successfully identified dozens of such children this year who have been safeguarded and removed from situations where they were subject to sexual abuse. Happily we have also identified many of the men responsible for the abuse which has led to arrests both in the UK and overseas.”

One of the DIIU's most high-profile cases this year was the teenage hacker George Duke-Cohan, who was jailed in December for three years after his hoax bomb threats and hijacking report caused chaos at hundreds of schools and a US airport.

On this occasion, the team identified Duke-Cohan’s online group - Apophis Squad - and traced their origins to the online Minecraft gaming community, eventually tracking down Duke-Cohan, who was arrested and charged by the National Crime Agency.

Det Con Harris said “There is an emerging trend among some gamers where they try to identify the real-life details of some of their rivals and then call the police with false information about that person in order to try and provoke a police response - known as ‘swatting’.”

Thanks to the work by DIIU, teacher Richard Clark, of Topcliffe Road, Sowerby, near Thirsk, was jailed for 12 years in September for abusing children over the internet. Det Con Harris said police “have identified numerous other paedophiles and victims across the UK as a result of the work the Victim ID unit did on Clarke’s case”.

Their work also led to the arrest and prosecution of Malcolm McKeating, 67, from Harrogate - a computer expert who tried to cover his tracks using anti-forensic techniques, who was given a suspended sentence in September.

The team also investigated ransomware attacks, banking malware, darknet drugs supply, and supported the investigation into the murder of Angela Rider.