Bulwell man jailed after he plied 9-year-old boy with drugs before filming vile sexual abuse

Andrew Sways' partner was arrested after inadvertently sending an incriminating video to a colleague, in November 2019, but fled the UK when he was granted bail.

Prosecutor Terence Woods said: “He remains at large. Extradition is being sought to this country.”

The hour-long video, which may have been livestreamed, showed Sways and his partner giving the boy cannabis before engaging in sexual activity, at their home address, in 2009.

Sways was arrested on January 27, 2022, and made no comment when he was interviewed. One 41-second clip showed Sways, now aged 30, wearing a collar and mask.

A further video, filmed in 2016 when the same boy was aged 17, suggested that the abuse had been ongoing. In it the boy can be heard saying: "As long as my face is not in it."

More videos filmed by Sways, which showed his partner 'doing things with other children', were also uncovered, but not charged, Nottingham Crown Court heard on Thursday.

There are also concerns about his use of the internet and the downloading of images, added Mr Woods.

Rosheen Iyer, mitigating, said Sways, of Highbury Road, Bulwell, has no previous convictions and entered guilty pleas to nine charges, at an early stage.

“He recognises the real victim is that young man whose life will have been blighted,” she said. “He has enormous regrets that he was invoved in this kind of offending.”

Sways was only 16 when the offending began and Ms Iyer described him as ‘naive and easily manipulated at the time.’

His partner, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was ‘much older’ and introduced him to drink and drugs, said Ms Iyer. “It's clear that the ringleader is the absent individual.”

"There was no real evidence of livestreaming," she added. “He is a model prisoner. These offences will blight his life for the foreseeable future.”

Judge Steven Coupland told him ‘any right-thinking person would be disgusted by the actions of you and your ex-partner,’ but said, ‘you were not the driving force in the commission of these offences.’

He sentenced Sways to eight years and three months, and imposed an unlimited sexual harm prevention order.