Nigerian teenager Gift Ayoola has been sentenced to four years in prison by Cardiff Crown Court in the United Kingdom after admitting to offences involving the sexual exploitation of children online.
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The 19-year-old was sentenced on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, after pleading guilty to causing or inciting children to engage in sexual activity, making and distributing indecent images of children, and possessing extreme pornography.
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The court heard that Ayoola used online communications to target children, encouraged them to engage in sexual activities during video calls and recorded some of the interactions before distributing the material to other offenders.
According to evidence presented in court, one offender paid Ayoola £5,000 for images and videos. He was also found to have been involved in online groups on Telegram and WhatsApp where indecent images of children were distributed.
Ayoola was first arrested at his home in Cardiff in January 2025 after police seized several electronic devices. Investigators found hundreds of indecent images of children on the devices, including 455 Category A images, 401 Category B images and 389 Category C images.
The court was also told that Ayoola had been involved in communications with children online, including a 12-year-old girl. Prosecutors presented evidence of further interactions involving children between the ages of 11 and 13 and a younger child.
Police arrested Ayoola again on March 5, 2026, and discovered additional indecent images involving children, including material involving children as young as four.
During police questioning, Ayoola admitted sharing and sending the material and said financial pressure had influenced his actions. His defence lawyer, Martha Smith-Higgins, told the court that he had lost his mother when he was six years old and later moved from Nigeria to the UK. She also said he was remorseful.
However, Judge Vanessa Francis rejected the suggestion that the offences were not sexually motivated.
The judge said:
“The children you exploited were much younger than you, some were very young indeed. These children required protection and you were encouraging them to pose for extremely harmful material. This was a grievous form of sexual abuse.
“These were not simply images; they were children whose trust and vulnerability were exploited in order to make sexual material.”
In addition to the four-year prison sentence, Ayoola will be subject to sex offender notification requirements indefinitely. He has also been placed under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.