Surrey Pride founder faces child sex abuse charges

The founder and former director of Pride in Surrey has been charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse against children.

Stephen Ireland, 40, and David Sutton, 26, both from Addlestone, were arrested on Wednesday.

Mr Ireland founded Pride in Surrey in 2018. Mr Sutton was a volunteer with the organisation. The pair were suspended in June this year.

Both have been remanded in custody and will appear before magistrates in Staines on Thursday.

Mr Ireland and Mr Sutton face a series of charges including six counts of conspiracy to sexually assault a child, conspiracy to kidnap a child, voyeurism and arranging the commission of a child sex offence.

In addition, Mr Ireland is facing a further 22 charges, including rape of a child under 13, sexual assault, making indecent photographs of children, and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

Mr Sutton is also charged with a further seven offences, including making indecent photographs of children and distributing indecent photographs of a child.

All the offences were alleged to have happened between August 2022 and last month. Surrey Police says its investigation is ongoing.

A spokesperson for Pride in Surrey said: "On 12 June, Pride in Surrey were informed by Surrey Police of an ongoing investigation surrounding two volunteers.

"Both volunteers were immediately suspended from the organisation.

"Following this, a decision was made to remove them both from the organisation, as well as Stephen Ireland as a director.

"We were not aware of the exact nature of the crimes being investigated."

The spokesperson said Pride in Surrey was made aware of the charges through a social media post on 15 August and that it would "fully co-operate" with police.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Surrey Police.

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