Darren Conway, a 52-year-old resident of Enfield, has pleaded guilty to multiple charges involving the encouragement of sexual assaults within an online forum. The legal proceedings at Wood Green Crown Court follow a major investigation into a digital group used to coordinate attacks on unconscious women.
Darren Conway’s admission at Wood Green Crown Court
Darren Conway appeared at Wood Green Crown Court on Friday to enter guilty pleas for nine counts of assisting or encouraging an offense , alongside charges of voyeurism and possessing an extreme pornographic image. As the U.K.'s Press Association reported, Conway appeared in a gray tracksuit and spoke only to confirm his identity.. The charges stem from a search warrant executed at his Enfield home on July 30, which resulted in the seizure of digital devices containing incriminating messages.
A digital ecosystem flagged by Europol and the NCA
The Metropolitan Police have characterized the online forum as part of a wider, highly organized ecosystem of offenders. According to the Met Police, the group chat allowed members to coordinate assaults and share imagery of abuse. This investigation was part of a national coordination effort led by the U.K.'s National Crime Agency, which began after the forum was discovered in October 2025. Met Police Commander Andy Day described Conway's actions as "shocking," noting that he encouraged others to target women who were drugged, asleep, or otherwise incapacitated.
The shadow of the Gisele Pelicot case in France
The coordination seen in the Enfield case echoes recent high-profile instances of gender-based violence, most notably the Gisele Pelicot case in France. In that instance, a husband was sentenced to 20 years in prison for soliciting strangers to assault his wife while she was unconscious. Ciara Bergman, the chief executive of Rape Crisis England and Wales, noted that while the scale of such drug-facilitated abuse is "deeply alarming," it is not entirely surprising given the underlying misogyny that drives such crimes.
The search for victims in Conway's seized digital devices
Law enforcement officials are still working to identify the individuals appearing in footage recovered from Conway's seized devices. The National Crime Agency has noted that in many such cases , victmis remain unaware they have been sexually assaulted until contacted by police. While many of the victims are believed to be located within the United Kingdom, the Metropolitan Police have stated that some may reside overseas, leaving the true scale of the harm yet to be fully determined.
Comments 0