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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

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He is looking at children online

151 replies

StillWaitingForMotherhood · 25/08/2013 11:23

I would really appreciate the perspective of the parents on this board, especially those who have daughters. I am 32, have been married a year and don't yet have children.

Since we got married, sex has just slowly disappeared and we now haven't had sex in over 5 months. Before we got married sex was frequent although he has never been able to climax with me ever - we were getting help with this but after we got married he lost interest, and the therapist ended up asking us to leave it and come back when we were prepared to commit what we need to in order to resolve the issue.

In desperation and frustration (he bluntly refuses to discuss the problem) I did something last week that I'm not proud of and hacked into his email and social media accounts. What I have found is that he is registered on a photo-sharing social media site used almost exclusively by teens, and he is following, commenting on and interacting with scores of very young girls, around the 13-14 age, although a couple that he seems particularly interested in look much younger and are very much pre-pubescent, I suspect around 10-11. He has hundreds of their pictures saved to his account, with three or four very young girls that he is obviously especially interested in.

Pubescent girls with newly-discovered curves being as they are and social media being the scary thing it is these days, a great deal of these pictures are quite sexual in nature, and he is interacting with these girls by posting inappropriate comments on the pictures and in many cases striking up conversations. I have worked out from what he has posted on his own profile that he is also registered on a 'chat' platform that is used through a mobile phone app, and I think he is using this to chat to young girls - I can't look at his phone as he keeps it with him at all times.

He is using a profile picture where his face is quite obscured and in which he could be quite young. He is in fact 45 next month.

I discovered various other worrying things on other sites like Facebook but this post is long enough already.

To be honest I feel sick and confused. I don't know what to make of this. He hasn't done anything illegal like downloaded child porn (although he has lots of adult porn on his computer), and obviously none of it is real as it is all online so pretty much fantasy. I am also acutely aware that by hacking his accounts I have massively betrayed his trust. But it just seems terribly terribly wrong.

Apart from the sex issue our relationship has up to this point been very happy, although he has always been a very closed and guarded person who doesn't talk about much. Now I feel as though I don't know this man I am living with. I don't know if I can ever look at him the same way again.

The reason I am posting here is because I daren't speak to my family or friends about this, and I really need to hear from the parents out there, especially those with daughters.

Being a mum is the most important thing in the world to me and we are planning to have children (how we would do that without having sex is obviously another matter completely). Would you have children with a man who looks at sexualised pictures of other people's children on the internet? Would you even stay with this man?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this very long post.

From a lonely and confused young wife.

OP posts:
sarascompact · 25/08/2013 12:02

"

StillWaiting, this is grooming. Report to the police immediately.

I agree with Portofino re cautioning EVERYONE else about oversharing their own experiences.

whitesugar · 25/08/2013 12:03

If this is not a spoof I feel desperately sorry for you. How anyone would pose a question as to whether you would have a child with a paedophile is completely beyond me. If you have to ask that question I suggest you never have children.

Winefiend · 25/08/2013 12:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tiredemma · 25/08/2013 12:05

have you name changed by the way? This is your first post?

bigkidsdidit · 25/08/2013 12:05

'a young wife' Hmm

whitesugar · 25/08/2013 12:10

I describe 11 year olds as children not 'pubescent girls with newly-discovered curves'. I will report this thread.

hellymelly · 25/08/2013 12:10

Agree with all posters. If this is real then I feel terribly sorry for you, but you must get his computer to the police and get away from this man. Or throw him out. There is no possible future for you with him, you will find someone else to have a family with, a sex life with, a proper marriage, as this is a sham. I hope you have support in real life, do you have a really good friend or sister who would help you right now to go to the police etc? Call them now. Sad for you.

VoiceOfRaisin · 25/08/2013 12:10

OP are you okay? This must be a lot to take in but it is really important to take action.

The StopItNow line linked above is probably a great place to start if you can't face the police immediately (but don't delay contacting the police, at least for preliminary advice, by more than the time it takes for you to pluck up courage - by which I mean hours not days).

Good luck.

DfanjoUnchained · 25/08/2013 12:10

Oh get lost.

DuchessFanny · 25/08/2013 12:12

Yep, I'd feel sick too ... You're not having sex because he fancies young girls, and at 32 you're a woman. He's pretending to be someone else to chat them up, to gain their trust and probably to meet them.
He's grooming, you know what he is and what you have to do.

Tiredemma · 25/08/2013 12:13

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

VoiceOfRaisin · 25/08/2013 12:14

Dfanjo How is that comment going to help? The OP must be in shock and is using MN to help come to terms with what she has found, and for support to do the right thing.

LEMisdisappointed · 25/08/2013 12:15

Olivia - can you tell us if this is real or you have reason to suspect otherwise?

OliviaMMumsnet · 25/08/2013 12:19

@LEMisdisappointed

Olivia - can you tell us if this is real or you have reason to suspect otherwise?

At this point we have no reason to suspect otherwise and would ask that folk don't troll hunt.
It seems the OP has got some helpful advice here on her best next steps
Thanks
MNHQ

poppingin1 · 25/08/2013 12:20

Please report him.

I am so sorry OP Sad

tabulahrasa · 25/08/2013 12:20

I'll give you a bit of a teen girl's mother's perspective.

DD is 13, some of her friends have added me on facebook, these are girls I know.

They post photos in provocative poses and ask for likes - they come across as sexually provocative...they haven't got a clue.

They're children, they really are. These are girls who still actually play in the park, they have posters of one direction mixed with kittens and puppies because they haven't actually worked out fancying people yet, they're still sleeping with teddy bears and falling out over who got the most sweets. Eighteen months ago they were still playing with dolls and sylvanian families.

They're trying to work out what being a teenager is, not what being an adult is - they see these pictures and think that's the way to do it without understanding the message it might give off or that there might be ramifications for doing so. It's the equivalent of putting their mum's high heels on when they were a few years younger.

When I see them posting pictures like that - I phone their mum and warn them that they are doing it, precisely so that they don't get taken advantage of by men like your husband...because they are nowhere near mature enough to handle that situation by themselves.

They aren't women, they aren't even young women - they are children.

It's not ok in any way that he's interacting with them, that he's clearly seeing them as sexual beings, that he's grooming them.

Forget whether you'd have children with him, whether it's a danger to your potential children - are you really ok with other people's children being at risk from him? Now and in the future? How could you have their friends round, just knowing how he thinks about children?...even if he never acts on his thoughts, could you really have young girls in your house knowing that he finds them sexually attractive while they're busy playing with dolls?...

You know it's not ok or you wouldn't even be asking.

oldgrandmama · 25/08/2013 12:22

This is beyond ghastly. Yes, you MUST report him - for the sake of kids everywhere. Do it fast, too, please.

StillWaitingForMotherhood · 25/08/2013 12:31

I just want to say I am sorry for being such an idiot, you are all right and this should be obvious to me. I guess perhaps something inside me was secretly, ridiculously hoping that someone would say I was overreacting and that it's not as bad as I think.

I am dealing with the situation right now.

Thank you all for your honesty.

OP posts:
Chesntoots · 25/08/2013 12:32

To put it into perspective for you OP - I lock people up every single day of my working life who started off like your partner...
Believe me when I tell you I don't want to see you in our visits hall in a couple of years time...

LeGavrOrf · 25/08/2013 12:41

I agree that I would be very hesitant about sharing any personal stories on this subject just in case.

morethanpotatoprints · 25/08/2013 12:42

OP.

I hope you are doing the right thing now. I have a daughter and this sickens me, as it would if I didn't.
This man is vile and I am so sorry for you. I don't think there is a person alive who would say you are over reacting, he needs locking up.
There are nice men out there, you will find one.

Littleen · 25/08/2013 12:44

I am sorry dear, but your husband is unfortunately most likely a pedophile. This is not normal behaviour, and whilst I cannot understand how you must feel now, I can see you must be devastated. You need to do the right think and contact the police, because of all those little girls that he could potentially harm in the future - not even mentioning his potential future children. I have been molested by a man, not a relative, when I was 14, and it has completely ruined my view of men, although I am slowly building it up, still, 10 years later.

Whilst he may not have downloaded actual porn, it is a question of time before his current habit is no longer satisfying enough - besides, what he is currently doing is still not acceptable in any shape or form. Please don't feel judged - you have done nothing wrong, but you now have the chance to do something right.

ChippingInNeedsSleepAndCoffee · 25/08/2013 12:49

It is every bit as bad as you thought it might be and a great deal worse. It is worrying that you even need to think about whether this is OK or not, it is NOT. I would be straight onto the police - they might find things on his computer/his phone that you haven't.

I am very very sorry you have had to find this out about your husband.

You can still have children, you can stll be happy - with someone else.

Coconutty · 25/08/2013 12:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AmandaHoldenmigroin · 25/08/2013 12:52

this is truly awful OP, I am sorry I do not have the experience to offer you advice. but I am sending a big hug your way.