How a flabby fiend stole a girl's innocence

IT started with an innocent "Hi" popping up on the girl's computer screen then blossomed into a whirlwind online romance.

The girl was only 14. She thought her suitor was a teenage boy.

Then it descended into a hell of sexual abuse at the hands of one of Australia's most conniving predators.

The nightmare started one Friday night when the year 8 Melbourne girls' school student was doing homework and instant messaging friends on the MSN network.

She found a new internet friend who wanted to talk. Little did she know she was already a victim.

Behind the flickering words on her screen sat flabby pedophile Bram Henderson, 34.

But in the online world he was teen hunk John. He complimented the girl's profile photo.

In the intense conversations that followed, the pedophile used multiple characters and an emotional arsenal of flattery, trickery, threats and guilt to manipulate the girl.

Using the abbreviated texting language of today's teens -- lol (laugh out loud), dw (don't worry), kewl (cool), lmao (laugh my a--- off), and *S* (smile) -- Henderson won her trust within five minutes.

Within 10 minutes Henderson asked where she went to school. Within 20 minutes of that first "Hi" he was trying to meet her.

John -- the 17-year-old bad boy with a heart of gold and handsome online photo -- was one of three online identities used by Henderson to ensnare his victim.

The virtual "troubled but romantic teen" character was from Sydney and didn't know many people, though he dropped names of the girl's online friends.

He sent her French poetry he claimed to have written and told her she was "the most beautiful girl I've ever seen".

She was flattered by the attention from the "charming, muscular teen", saying it was unusual for boys to take an interest in her.

Their first chat lasted six hours. Their daily conversations ran for three months and fill more than 300 pages.

As hours and hours of "talking" passed, flirting escalated to an exchange of elaborate invented sex stories.

When the intense online relationship was only days old, the pair exchanged online, or virtual, kisses and pledged their love to each other.

The pedophile soon had the girl's mobile number, but he was careful not to part with any of his contact details.

He harangued the girl more than 100 times for more photos of herself, with more and more requests for explicit shots. When the girl refused or stalled, he told her she had betrayed his trust. When she complied with his sick requests he praised her and pledged undying love.

As the danger to the girl intensified, friends warned her that the boyfriend she had not met could be a pedophile.

Henderson, as John, persuaded her that his accusers were flirts scorned over his rejection of them online.

The pedophile told the girl they were not really going out, so ". . . get with me 1 u like . . . and tell me about it".

But when she revealed she'd been petting with a boy her age, Henderson's John feigned betrayal.

He launched a guilt campaign against her -- that she shattered his vulnerable trust and must make it up to him.

The puppetmaster pedophile then created a new internet character, Larry -- John's best friend from Sydney.

Larry told of John's long, hard triumph over adversity and of a broken heart -- healed wounds the girl was at risk of re-opening.

In the real world, she tried to meet John at his purported building site workplace.

But, in different ways, Larry and John told the girl her presence at the site cost John his job and that he was forced to return to Sydney and his demons.

Larry told the girl her actions made John suicidal, that it was her fault -- but his boss would reinstate him if she slept with the boss.

Several times, at display homes, the girl was then abused by the pedophile -- posing as her "boyfriend's boss".

The young victim posted, "I don't like my thoughts any more" and questioned the existence of the teen with whom she fell in love.

Tip-offs from the girl's worried friends led police to Henderson meeting the girl.

He is serving a minimum six years' jail without internet access.

LIAM HOULIHAN Crime reporter