June 2023

Self-confessed monster who raped baby and documented sick crimes is caged for 30 years

A self-proclaimed monster whose offences include repeatedly raping a baby aged under 12 months old will spend the next 30 years in prison.

Depraved Jay Perren of Hartington Road, Stockton was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to 25 offences.

His sick crimes were committed over a number of years and documented in 33,000 images and videos which were stored in 140 folders on an SD card.

They include:

• Five counts of rape, including that of a baby

• Sexual assault of a child under 13

• Two counts of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography

• Three counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity

• Sexual assault

• Sexual activity with a child

• Causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent

• Three counts of making indecent images of a child

• Six counts of taking indecent images of a child

• Two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order

Teesside Crown Court heard the 34-year-old’s offending came to light when police stormed his Stockton home in November 2020.

Officers recovered a number of devices including a hidden phone which contained category A, B, and C indecent images.

A month later, police again searched his home recovering further devices.

Summarising the investigation into his hideous catalogue of offences, Recorder Watson said: “On this occasion they found material which can only be described as depraved and deplorable. It gives rise to the various counts on this indictment.”

In 2021, his former partner, Suzanne Kelly, was jailed for her despicable crimes in which she abused and filmed children then sent the images on to her then boyfriend.

The pair met in a pub where Perren worked as a DJ and Kelly was “unhappy in her marriage”.

Kelly had taken indecent pictures and videos of children and sent them to Perren “to please him”.

Kelly, (then aged 40), pleaded guilty to charges of sexual activity with a child, voyeurism, and making and distributing indecent indecent images of children

During the hearing, the defendant – formerly known as Stephen Jardine – heard how his crimes left his victims “broke” with one woman saying she contemplated taking her own life and another saying the defendant had “ripped her soul apart”.

In a victim impact statement, one woman said: “I was a child when I was abused by this adult. I was burdened with the pressure of being sexually abused by this predator.

“This broke me as a person and ripped my soul apart. He is where my downfall began. I completely isolated myself and hated being around any man and feared they’d do the same.”

Another victim said the court case almost drove her to suicide, she said: “I do not wish to give this monster any power in thinking that he’s broken me.”

The court heard Perren has several victims and admitted to one he had a “monster inside his head and had to feed it”. A psychiatric report outlined in court concluded the defendant suffers from paedophilic disorder.

Perren’s barrister, Victoria Lamballe, said the defendant has admitted to this, she said: “He admitted to a sexual attraction to children.

Ms Lamballe also asked for credit for the defendant’s guilty pleas and said his admissions have spared his victims from a trial.

The defendant, now of Cromwell Road, Nottingham, was jailed for 30 years.

When Perren was arrested in November 2020, he initially handed over a ‘clean phone’ but we noticed he was charging another phone under his pillow. This phone contained an SD card, which in turn contained the history of his offending.

This led police to discover that Perren was digitally documenting the crimes he had committed against his victims in folders which were stored under the victim’s name or the location of where they lived (towns and cities across the UK).

This assisted police in the identification of the victims, and they could start building a case against him.

One particularly disturbing image hid Perren’s face but poice proved it was him based on the cuff of a distinctive jacket he was wearing.

They found an exact replica of the jacket on eBay (the only one being sold in the UK at that time) and following this, they managed to match it to a photograph of him wearing it on a trip he took seven days after the offence.

This was one of the many ways police proved that Perren was guilty of his crimes, however it is the victims that have been central to the success of this investigation.