Who is Anthony Burns and how long was the online predator jailed for blackmailing women?
ANTHONY Burns is a convicted sexual predator who abused women across the UK.
His horrific online crimes will be examined in the Channel 5 documentary series Prime Suspect: Hunting the Predators.
Abdul Elahi tutored Burns in how to abuse victimsPA: Press Association
Burns’s depraved crimes
Burns lived in Lowestoft, Suffolk, before his arrest and reportedly studied the crimes of sexual blackmailer Abdul Elahi.
Elahi targeted over 2,000 victims and began teaching Burns how to manipulate people.
Burns began targeting women on sugar daddy websites – online sites where men offer money or financial support to people younger than them, often in exchange for sex.
Investigators would later come to believe that Burns tried to target 600 people across the UK, the USA, and Australia.
In court, victims opened up about how Burns would find their home addresses and the addresses of their workplaces.
He would then begin to blackmail them into increasingly perverse acts.
Burns would often mask his identity using fake names and rarely showed his face on camera.
His criminal activities first began in 2018 and continued until 2021, when he was finally caught by NCA Senior Investigating Officer Robert Slater and his team.
After his arrest, Burns was found to be in possession of half a million images of female and child sexual abuse.
Burns was put behind bars
In court, Burns was charged with 46 counts which included blackmail, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, arranging the commission of a child sex offence, making and distributing indecent images of children, possessing extreme pornography, malicious communications and failure to comply with notification requirements.
Anthony Burns was jailed for 24 yearsPA Media
He admitted to 39 of those counts and was found guilty of a further two.
Burns was jailed on January 19, 2024, for 24 years.
Elahi was jailed in 2021 and was sentenced to 32 years behind bars.
Judge Sarah Buckingham told Burns: “You did not care about the anguish you caused and had complete disregard for your victims’ suffering.”
She also said that Burns had caused “immense harm and distress”.
Victims of Burns spoke up in court, with many admitting that they had contemplated suicide.
One told the BBC: “He is very meticulous in what he has done – he’s a very dangerous individual and the grand scale of what he’s done proves that.
“My outlook on life and trust in people has drastically changed, it took a long time to start getting that back.
“It will take years but I am in recovery and I think most of us are, which is a nice thing to see.”
Sophie Goodall waived her right to anonymity to speak about how she felt that she might be murdered by Burns.
Hunting the predators
Burns’ depraved crimes will be examined in Channel 5’s documentary series Prime Suspect: Hunting the Predators.
The series follows the National Crime Agency as they catch online sex offenders.
This episode follows the stories of Hayley and Sophie who both fell victim to Burn’s sinister crimes.
Hayley was fooled into thinking Burns was a handsome American millionaire and Sophie thought she was talking with a “cheeky chappie”.
However, Burns began to abuse them both and found that the authorities initially told them that their overseas abuser could not be traced.
Viewers can catch the episode about Burns when it airs on March 5, 2025, at 9pm.
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