Liron Velleman (Image: X)
A former Labour councillor who admitted child sex offences sent someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl a video of his penis and asked her to “show me your bra”, a court has heard.
Liron Velleman, 30, sent online messages to the “girl” asking to see her in her pyjamas and bra, Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court heard.
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Velleman, who at the time was a Labour councillor for Barnet in north London, used the guise of “Tim Graham 95” to send the messages.
Unbeknownst to him, he was actually in contact with a decoy officer from the Metropolitan Police.
Prosecutor Zahid Hussain told the court on Tuesday that Velleman sent online messages asking to see the girl in her school uniform, asking how old she was and if she was at home alone.
He sent a video of his erect penis to the person he thought was a 13-year-old girl and also sent images including one of him fully clothed, one of him topless and another of him in his boxers, the court heard.
“When he posted the image of him in his boxer shorts again he was communicating with her and asked if she liked what he saw,” the prosecutor said.
“She said yes and he said ‘that makes me even harder’.”
He later asked her to open her dressing gown and sent a message which said “I want to see what’s underneath”.
Velleman previously pleaded guilty to two charges, one of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and another of attempting to cause a child aged 13 to 15 to look at an image of sexual activity.
The offences happened between December 3 and 10 2024, while he was a councillor.
Velleman was elected as a Labour councillor for the borough of Barnet in May 2022 but resigned in April 2025 without explanation.
“At the material time he was a Labour councillor, so he was in a position of trust and responsibility, and he engaged in this criminal conduct,” the prosecutor said.
The court heard there were 21 pages of messages which police accessed after his phone was seized.
The prosecutor asked that the case be committed to the Crown court for sentencing as he said it was too serious to be dealt with at the magistrates’ court, which can impose a maximum prison sentence of one year.
“It must resonate that the sexual exploitation of children and minors and the systematic abuse of minors will not be tolerated by the criminal courts and there must be a deterrent sentence,” the prosecutor told the court.
“Paedophilia and child sexual abuse have reached epidemic proportions and are perpetrated by defendants like the one who sits before you who takes an active sexual interest in children.”
Velleman’s solicitor, Ali Hussain, said he accepted that the court’s powers were constrained but there was “substantial mitigation” which would be heard at the Crown court.
He mentioned “the shame and destruction to both his (Velleman’s) character and his relationships with other people, including, most notably, his wife”, from whom he has since separated.
District Judge Ashwinder Gill said: “Notwithstanding any mitigation that may be put forward… this is a serious offence.
“It is also an offence that in my mind has aggravating features: persistent communications over a period of time, with somebody who Mr Velleman perceived to be a child.
“Therefore this court’s powers are not sufficient and I am ging to be committing to Crown for sentence.”
Velleman, who was a member of the Jewish Labour Movement, wore a dark suit, white shirt and a tie in the dock and spoke only to confirm his name and personal details.
He was freed on bail with the condition not to be in the company of someone under the age of 18 without supervision from another adult.
Velleman, of Finchley, north London, will be sentenced at Harrow Crown Court at a later date.