Tech-savvy man became an online predator

Warning: This story references sexual abuse and may be upsetting to readers.

A tech-savvy computer operator took images off women’s social media accounts and manipulated them into “graphic and repulsive” pornographic material before threatening to distribute the images if his wishes weren’t met.

The fear that Finn Robert Lloyd Cottam created in his victims was no less than a “sustained campaign of sexual terror” Crown prosecutor Jeremy Cameron said.

One of the women told the Nelson District Court during sentencing today that she had been targeted online for years by the stranger and she feared he would hurt her after receiving one message that said he would kidnap her and make her his “rape slave”.

“At the time I didn’t know who the perpetrator was. I feared for my safety everywhere I went,” she said.

The discovery of her images on “disgusting” websites would remain with her forever.

“It will always haunt me,” she said in her victim impact statement.

Another victim, whose holiday photos had been taken off her social media page, manipulated and used to blackmail her said it was awful to think that innocent Facebook images had been turned into something so sickening.

“I hope he understands the terrible harm he’s caused. We will always remember him as a coward and a creep,” she told the court.

‘Porn addict’ from a young age

Cottam was sentenced to seven years in prison on two representative charges of blackmail, one charge of threatening to cause grievous bodily harm, 11 charges of causing harm by posting a digital communication, one charge of knowingly making an objectionable publication, a representative charge of possession of an objectionable publication and another charge of failing to assist in a search.

The seeds of the offending dated back to 2013, took hold in 2015 and continued right up until his arrest in 2022.

The 27-year-old, described as a porn addict from a young age and with recognised “significant psychological difficulties” downloaded images off the social media sites of his victims. He then superimposed offensive, and at times sexually violent pornographic imagery, over the photos accompanied by graphic and “nasty” text and then sent them back to the victims.

Some he sent to a porn site on the dark web used by others to view and share material.

Other messages included images of group and forced sex, all to spur his victims to respond.

The primary victim said when she found out about the “disgusting websites” where images of her had appeared she was left emotionally scarred, most likely for life.

“I will never know why you targeted me this way. I feel I will carry these scars for the rest of my life.”

Cottam was described by police as a computer expert proficient enough to evade detection - until one day he was caught.

He was found by police with more than 8000 objectionable images and videos, including child exploitation material, on multiple devices he owned.

His lawyer, Steven Zindel, said Cottam’s selfish and immature actions were the result of him “lashing out”.

“He said to me, as horrible as the victim impact statements were to listen to, a number of things stuck in his memory and sorry doesn’t cover it.

“He feels ashamed,” Zindel said.

Cottam’s mother, who was seated in the back of the court, wept as Judge Jo Rielly credited her and Cottam’s father for having stood by him.

Judge Rielly said Cottam’s offending fell into two different types that included online abuse against victims known to him, plus others he didn’t know, and also possession of child exploitation material against unidentified victims.

Eight of his 11 identified victims had direct links to him. The identities of the “innumerable” child victims of the sexual exploitation material were unknown, police said.

‘Online predator’

The police said Cottam used a large number of encrypted email addresses which masked content from the service provider.

He visited websites only available on the dark web to access objectionable material and to disguise his physical location.

He also used multiple VPN applications to disguise his IP (Internet Protocol) address and installed a program known as Veracrypt on his computer to create encrypted and hidden storage caches.

Cameron said Cottam was an online predator who knew what he was doing was illegal and made efforts to cover his tracks.

He said he degraded his victims, isolated them and encouraged others to do the same while seemingly aroused by their fear.

“It was a terror campaign that had them looking over their shoulder for years.”

Contact with identified victims was of a “grossly sexually explicit” nature that was degrading and graphic, Judge Rielly said, while adding that some of the child exploitation material was too harrowing to read in court.

Timeline of Cottam’s offending

The police summary of facts said he shared images depicting sexual abuse or videos with a “rape narrative”.

Over six years he emailed his first victim from a variety of encrypted email accounts, initially asking her to view a link he sent to a pornographic website where a gallery had been created using multiple images of the woman, whose image had been superimposed with pornographic references.

He threatened that unless she replied to his email he would “continue the online sexual abuse” by sharing the link to her friends and family.

He also sent sexually abusive messages and images via several different Instagram and Facebook accounts.

When the victim did not respond the messaging got worse, which forced the woman to delete her social media accounts and set up new ones using an alias.

Cottam then sent her an email demanding that she send explicit images of herself by a deadline and he would leave her alone, or his messaging would “get worse” and he would share “personal information and humiliating material”.

He also threatened to involve some of her friends and family.

When the woman did not follow his demands, he used a false name to share a screenshot of her social media profile with text that threatened physical contact by sexually violent messaging.

In January 2019 he then posted an image of the victim and a friend of hers to a particular site where users shared images, and received modified images.

Later that year Cottam’s emails worsened, including threats to kidnap the victim and make her a “rape slave”.

He used similar tactics against his second victim, and in October 2018 he sent her a message from an Instagram account demanding that she contact him or he would disclose sexualised pictures of her to her parents. He followed up with another message with her parents’ work email addresses included in the subject line.

Cottam then began abusing a mother and daughter he knew, using the same tactics.

“No mother and no daughter should ever have to read what you composed and sent them,” Judge Rielly said.

The offending against other victims was similar until police searched his Motueka home in early 2022. He initially refused to provide the passwords to his cellphones and computers.

The police forensics unit accessed the devices in February 2022 and found more than 8000 images and videos of objectionable material featuring some of the known victims, and others unable to be identified.

Judge Rielly credited the victims for their bravery in speaking in Cottam’s presence, while others were brave enough to write how they felt.

She hoped the sentencing would help bring them some closure after it looked like they would be dragged through a trial.

Cottam pleaded guilty three weeks before it was scheduled to start.

“What I hope you acknowledge is that none of them deserved this, but they will always live with it.”

From a totality starting point of 10-and-a-half years in prison, Cottam received a seven-year cumulative sentence on all charges.

SEXUAL HARM
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