Michael Lymath admitted 27 offences and was called “every parent’s nightmare” by a judge at Liverpool Crown Court
Michael Lymath pleaded guilty to 27 offences including serious child sex offences and was handed an extended sentence(Image: Merseyside Police)
A mum said she struggles to leave the house as she battles feelings of shame after her daughter was groomed and assaulted by a depraved monster. The mum, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her daughter, told Liverpool Crown Court this week that her daughter changed from the “house joker” to an emotional distanced young girl because of the abuse she faced at the hands of sex offender Michael Lymath.
Judge Garrett Byrne told the 43-year-old, of Bath Street in Southport, that he was “every parent’s nightmare” and his “predatory, manipulative and monstrous” actions were some of the most serious heard in Liverpool Crown Court. Lymath groomed six children after posing as a teenage boy who liked to play online games.
But in reality, he manipulated, bribed and threatened his victims into sending him illicit images of them performing sex acts on themselves before he made attempts to continue his depraved plans in person, either in hotels or in the back of his van. He also documented a manifesto of his “long-term plans” for his victims, which was found when police raided his house. He pleaded guilty to 27 offences and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with an extended eight years on licence this week.
The court heard he groomed six children online, including one who was just 12 years of age. He first had contact with the girl on Snapchat when he posed as a 17-year-old, later performing sex acts on video calls. He would later meet with her in his van, driving her to a remote location and forcing her to perform sex acts on him. On one occasion he raped her.
Messages showed “it was plain the defendant had groomed her by threatening to end their relationship”. The court heard one message showed the grown adult message her “stop f***ing me about, being a p****”.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the girl’s mum said she struggles to leave the house alone and constantly needs to check the doorbell camera and the front and back doors. She said Lymath had “pulled my daughter away from me” and described how her daughter, once “funny and the house joker”, now snapped in anger with those closest to her.
She added: “I just want to hide away. I’m confused about how this has happened. I thought [my daughter] would tell me. I don’t feel safe anymore. I’m constantly checking where she is on the Life360 app to see where she is, who she is with. I have found myself going and checking on her whereabouts.”
The mum added: “While I know he is to blame, I feel ashamed for not protecting her. I feel I failed as a mum. Before all this she was very close to me. Since finding out, she has been quiet and more emotional. [She has] distanced herself from everyone. She wants to be in her room. She is not interested in seeing her friends but doesn’t want to be alone…she is on the waiting list for therapy.”
The girl was listed in court as Lymath’s second victim and was identified after police raided his house and found handwritten notes with information about her which included the bus she took to school and the name of the school. Police also found a note titled “long term plans” including a list of rules: “Remember manners, there must be daily call, no self-harming, no lying, never question master, keep the room tidy, play Roblox, agree to be punished with the safe word being ‘scooberdiving’.” There was also a list of items found which included vapes and zip ties.
Prosecutor Holly Menary told the court that Lymath’s offending was discovered when a mum discovered the defendant had been sending money to her daughter. Lymath, who called himself “Mike” online, knew the girl was 14 and asked her for images in her school uniform. He also told her she could earn £500 if she journeyed to his house and had sex with him.
Lymath also met up with another girl and tried to initiate sexual contact, but after he was unsuccessful gave her a Pandora necklace. His fourth victim was a teenage boy who he forced to perform oral sex on him by offering him £150, which the boy spent on a computer monitor. He also bribed a 13-year-old girl with offers of Amazon gift cards if she sent him images, and paid his sixth victim on 10 occasions for sexual videos.
When police seized his devices they found thousands of indecent images of children, including 1,049 category A images – the most serious. Many of the images were of his six victims.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by the prosecution, another girl told the court: “I no longer feel safe around adults out of fear” and she felt “emotionally damaged” and had lost trust in people. One mum added what the defendant had inflicted on her family was “nothing short of a nightmare” and her daughter, who had taken two overdoses, had been “plunged into darkness”.
He pleaded guilty to 27 offences committed between 2020 and 2024 which included rape of a girl under the age of 13, causing/inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a girl to engage in sexual activity, two counts of causing a child to watch an image of sexual activity, possession of cannabis and cocaine and possession of an offensive weapon in a private place. A number of other charges were ordered to lie on the file following not-guilty pleas.
In mitigation, Brendan Carville, defending, said: “My client is effectively a man of good character. He’s been a working man, but sadly got involved in drink and drugs.”
The court heard “lonely” Lymath spent large amounts of time on his computer and “curiosity at first ended in an unhealthy interest in young people”. Mr Carville said: “This doesn’t excuse anything but it’s a matter that explains why a man suddenly behaves in this way, quite off the scale in offending.”
The judge treated the rape charge as the lead offence when sentencing Lymath. As well as handing Lymath the extended sentence to reflect his dangerousness, the judge imposed indefinite restraining orders against his victims and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.