Former US government adviser who flew to UK to rape ‘nine-year-old girl’ jailed

By Rosie Shead, Reporter29th January 2025News EnglandBedfordshire, Child Abuse, Courts / Justice, News England, Sexual Abuse

A former US government adviser who flew to the UK to rape who he believed to be a nine-year-old child has been jailed, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

Rahamim Shy (pictured), 47, travelled to Bedfordshire from New York in February last year to have sex with the girl after more than a month of planning involving messages with an individual posing as a woman called “Debbie”, the girl’s grandmother.

Unbeknown to Shy, Debbie was in fact an undercover Bedfordshire police officer and the child did not exist.

Shy, of Jersey City in New Jersey, was found guilty of arranging the commission of a child sex offence, namely rape, and possessing indecent photographs of a child, at Luton Crown Court on Wednesday, the CPS said.

Using an online forum and messaging apps, Shy described in detail disturbing acts he wanted to do to the girl and said he was prepared to travel to England to do so.

He described the child’s age of nine as a “tad late” to start sexual activity, and said it was an “honour” to be considered “her first”.

Shy, an international investment banker, flew from the US to Gatwick Airport on February 23 2024 before driving to Bedford where he met the undercover officer and was arrested.

Upon arrest, officers found cuddly toys and condoms in his luggage which the prosecution argued demonstrated a clear intent to win the child over before abusing her.

At court, the jury heard bad character evidence from Shy’s phone including indecent images of children and messages in which he discussed his sexual interest in children.

He was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison on Wednesday.

Lorraine Telford, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Rahamim Shy is a predator who was fully prepared to commit unspeakable acts against a child for his own sexual gratification.

“It was clear from his explicit conversations and items he brought to England that he had only one intention, to commit rape against what he knew was a vulnerable child.

“The fact the child in this case did not exist makes no difference, and it is a credit to the police operation and subsequent prosecution that Shy will no longer pose an immediate threat.”

Before the trial, the defence argued that because Shy was in the US at the time of the messaging, he was jurisdictionally exempt from prosecution, the CPS said.

However, the prosecution successfully argued that English courts have the jurisdiction to try offences committed abroad that are intended to result in criminal offences in England.

He was found not guilty of possessing a prohibited image of a child.