Chelmsford: Man jailed for child sexual offences

A Chelmsford man has been jailed for six years for child sexual offences following a swift investigation by our specialist officers.

In October 2024 officers from the Management of Sex Offenders and Violent Offenders (MOSOVO) team acted on information from the National Crime Agency that Lee Bergstrom was committing offences and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.

The 35-year-old was arrested at his home address after it was discovered he was using his gaming account to engage with girls under the age of 16. Further investigations revealed that he was also attempting to engage in sexual communications with a girl.

He refused to answer all questions during interview, replying no comment, but there was overwhelming evidence and Bergstrom of Nipsells Chase, Mayland, was charged with attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and an attempted breach of a sexual harm prevention order.

When he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on 16 December, he pleaded guilty to all charges.

On Friday 10 January Bergstrom returned to the same court for sentencing, he was given an extended sentence made up of six years’ imprisonment with an extension of six years on licence in relation to the offence of attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity.

Alongside this he was jailed for a total for 2 years 6 months, in relation to the other charges, to run concurrently.

He was placed on the sex offenders register for life and his games console was confiscated.

Detective Chief Inspector Michael Pannell said:

"I am pleased to see that Bergstrom has been jailed for his crimes. Working in partnership with our colleagues from the National Crime Agency ensured we were able to act promptly to safeguard the children he was targeting.
"I want to reassure the community that we continue to work hard to bring more people like him to justice.
"He not only showed a flagrant disregard for his order but was actively committing new offences and targeting vulnerable children.
"This type of offending will not be tolerated.
"We work hard to monitor and manage people who are subject to such orders and if anyone is found to breach the terms of these preventative orders, we will find them and they will be brought before the courts."