Derbyshire paedophile jailed after he was caught by new hi-tech tool that identified his face

Martyn Armstrong was identified following a 17 year investigation after specialist National Crime Agency investigators created a new programme. His abuse began 17 years ago in June 2005 and continued to February 2011.

But using a new tool police were able to reverse distortion filters he used to disguise his face in dark web images of him assaulting a toddler. It also helped police identify a beach near his home.

The 50-year-old was stopped and arrested by South Wales Police officers while driving on the M4 on 30 July 2022.

He has since been charged with 20 counts of rape on a child under 13, one count of assault by penetration, three counts of sexual assault, five counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and one count of making and one count of distributing 204 category A indecent images of a child.

He pleaded guilty to all of these offences at Cardiff Crown Court on 21 September last year, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday

NCA Operations Manager Martin Ludlow said: “It is over 17 years since Armstrong began to abuse these young children. I don’t believe he thought he would ever be caught and that the distortion techniques he used would protect him.

“However, the NCA and our international partners were determined to ensure his evil actions did not go unpunished. Our commitment to identifying him was unwavering and ultimately, NCA officers developed a completely new programme which led to his unmasking.

"Investigators did a remarkable job in piecing together limited information to finally reveal that Armstrong was the person in these images.

“We will continue to work together and do all we can to bring offenders like Armstrong to justice and protect innocent children from child sexual abuse.”

The images were first referred to the NCA by Australian Federal Police in 2013, after they established they had been posted on the dark web.

In 2017 Italian investigators linked the name “Martyn” to the person who took the images, but they were unable to progress the case further. A French investigator adopted the case and worked on identifying a beach which had been seen in some images linked to the offender.

After conducting significant research on the geology of the landscape, he established that rocks on the beach in the photo must either be in Ireland or Wales - matching them with 60 beaches before striking an exact match on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales.

It was later discovered that at the time of the abuse, Armstrong lived in Derbyshire - but he had sold his house in January 2022 and moved close to the same Welsh beach identified by investigators.

Officers at the NCA then compared and matched pictures from the estate agency listing for the Derbyshire house to some of the original abuse images taken in 2009.

Following his arrest, NCA investigators found a number of devices in Armstrong’s home, including one of the two cameras he used in 2010. This was forensically matched to the camera which took the images.