Paedophile is jailed for 10 years after police swoop on him as he arrives at meeting with child he planned to sexually abuse

Published: 18:34, 23 May 2026 | Updated: 18:50, 23 May 2026 A 'prolific' paedophile caught as he travelled to meet and sexually abuse a child has been jailed. David Chellapah, 31, groomed children as young as 12 on social media, sent sexual messages and pressed them to engage in sexual activity, the Metropolitan Police said. He was jailed for ten years on Friday at Isleworth Crown Court after pleading guilty to 21 offences related to child sexual abuse. Chellapah coerced and pressured children between 12 and 15 to take sexual pictures and videos. After police searched his house they found a 'significant volume' of indecent images and videos of children on a USB stick, including some who were 'very young', the Met said. Officers were tipped off that Chellapah was communicating with a child and trying to meet and sexually abuse them. Police arrested him on October 17 last year when he went to meet a child. Detective Constable Alan Stepkowski-Fellows, from the Met's Central Specialist Crime Command, said: 'Chellapah showed clear and persistent predatory behaviour, targeting children online and attempting to escalate that contact into serious harm. Our officers acted quickly to intervene, prevent further offences and bring him before the courts. David Chellapah was jailed for ten years after pleading guilty to 21 child sexual abuse offences Chellapah, a 'prolific' paedophile, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday 'Safeguarding victims remains our priority. We worked closely with partners to ensure all children were protected and supported, with specialist officers using trauma-informed approaches. We also secured strong digital evidence so victims did not have to attend court. 'We will continue working with partners to protect children and hold offenders to account.' Chellapah pleaded guilty to all counts - including sexual communication with a child, attempting to meet a child following grooming, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and offences relating to the production and possession of indecent images of children - in February. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.