A Deer Creek man, known as Holden Clayton, aged 24, has been handed a 40-year prison sentence after being found guilty of raping underage girls and possessing child pornography. According to KOCO, Clayton was apprehended in 2023 with a 13-year-old girl, following a tip from the victim's grandmother. In a damaging revelation, Clayton admitted he used social media to target young girls, assaulting at least three victims.
In a related report by News 9, Clayton's disguise online as a 13-year-old boy was part of his scheme to meet and sexually exploit underage girls. The deception has now culminated in his long-term incarceration and a mandatory registration as a sex offender.
Meanwhile, another case of police oversight has emerged in Manchester, shedding light on the perils posed by delayed justice. Lewis Jones, previously investigated by Merseyside Police for grooming and sexually abusing a child while masquerading as a teenager, was left uncharged and subsequently kidnapped a six-year-old girl. Despite an internal police review highlighting a series of missteps, BBC reports that no individual officers were found culpable of misconduct by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The same review, however, revealed that the Unity and Protecting Vulnerable People (PVP) teams were hampered by staffing issues, which contributed to the lack of progress in Jones's case. Post his arrest in June 2020, the case dragged on without significant advances. Judge Hilary Manley, in her remarks during Jones's trial, lamented the failure to charge him promptly, stating, "This defendant, if he had been charged when he should have been, would not have been at liberty to abduct this six-year-old girl," a statement obtained by the BBC.
