A FORMER manager at Herefordshire-based children's holidays company PGL is to be sentenced for child sex offences.

Cameron Osman, a 44-year-old from Southampton, groomed more than 100 children by posing as a 16-year-old girl online.

At the time of his offences, he was working at a children's holiday centre called Windmill Hill in East Sussex. The site is owned by the Herefordshire business PGL which has headquarters in Ross-on-Wye.

He approached teenage boys online under his screen name "Lizzielemon" on sites like Instagram, My Lol, Love Crush, Discord and Skype, engaging them in sexualised chats. He never identified himself and told victims his camera was broken on video chats.

He told victims "Lizzielemon" was from Bristol or Birmingham, that he had a fetish for dominating boys in school uniform and sports kit and for teacher/student role plays.

He was found guilty of 36 separate charges including causing a child to engage in sexual activity and making indecent images of children.

He pleaded guilty in May, and was due to be sentenced in September, but the matter was adjourned for two months.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) had tracked Osman down to a friend's address in Crowborough, East Sussex, in September 2021 and arrested him.

His laptop and mobile phone were seized and he was found to have contacted 76 boys aged between 12 and 16 in the UK, plus underage boys in 27 countries overseas.

He had resigned from his job at PGL a few days before he was arrested. 

In a statement given to the BBC, PGL said: "The National Crime Agency has confirmed that none of these charges relate to guests at our centre.

"The safety and security of our guests is of paramount importance and all of our employees are subject to stringent safeguarding checks, including enhanced DBS clearance before and during employment.

"All such checks and clearances were in place for this individual."

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NCA operations manager Danielle Pownall said: "Osman callously preyed on vulnerable teenage boys, for his own sexual gratification. 

"I have no doubt, if we had not stopped Osman he would have gone on to commit more severe child sexual abuse.

"We will continue to work with our partners across the world to combat the perpetrators of online child sexual abuse, and hold people like Osman accountable for their crimes."

He is expected before the courts for sentencing on November 1.