A Skewen man who sexually assaulted a child and used encrypted messaging apps to plan the abuse of others has been jailed for 21 years.
Craig Henton, 54, of Skewen, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on Monday after admitting 18 offences, including sexual assault of a child under 13 and arranging a child sex offence.
He was given an extended sentence: 21 years in prison followed by a further six years on licence. The judge also imposed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and his victims were granted indefinite restraining orders against him.
The National Crime Agency began investigating in April 2024 after receiving information that a user of an encrypted messaging app had said he had imminent plans to sexually abuse a five-year-old girl.
Investigators traced the account to Henton’s address. When his devices were searched, they found he had also shared an indecent image of the same child.
One device held 4,570 indecent images and videos of children, 918 of them in category A, the most serious. Almost 1,400 more were found on a second device.
In chats between February and May 2024, the NCA said, Henton told other users he had been a paedophile for 25 years and that he had befriended a vulnerable mother to get access to her daughter.
His phone showed hundreds of conversations about the sexual abuse of children, including discussions about meeting other users and their children in order to abuse them.
He also claimed in the chats to have sexually assaulted a child in the past, when she was aged between three and five. The NCA said that child was identified and safeguarded.
Henton was arrested again in May and June 2024 on suspicion of assaulting a girl under 13 and arranging a child sex offence. He answered no comment in interview and was charged with 18 offences.
He pleaded guilty to all of them at Swansea Crown Court in October 2025.
Danielle Pownall, an operations manager at the NCA, said: “Craig Henton is a predatory and dangerous paedophile who abused a young child and expressed his willingness to meet up with others to carry out further abuse to satisfy his depraved sexual gratification.”
“He joined chat groups set up purely to enable and justify the sexual abuse of children,” she said. “He was open about being a paedophile for 25 years and his intention to target vulnerable women so he could abuse their children.”
She added: “The NCA will continue in our work with partners in the UK and internationally to protect children from vile abusers like Henton.”
Henton will remain on the sex offenders register for life.
If you are worried about a child, or you are a child who needs to talk to someone, Childline is free on 0800 1111.
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