A former advisor to the US government who flew to the UK to rape a girl whom he believed to be a nine-year-old child has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years.
International investment banker Rahamim Shy, 47, travelled to Bedfordshire from New York in February 2024 to have sex with the girl following more than a month of planning.
This followed correspondence with an individual describing herself as ‘Debbie’, the girl’s grandmother.
However, unbeknown to Shy, the girl did not exist and ‘Debbie’ was in fact an undercover officer with Bedfordshire Police.
Using an online forum and later messaging apps, Shy described in acute detail the disturbing acts he wanted to do to the girl and that he was fully prepared to travel to England to do so.
He described the girl’s age of nine as a ‘tad late’ to start sexual activity, and that it was an ‘honour’ to be considered ‘her first’.
Shy ultimately did travel to England on February 23 2024 via Gatwick Airport before driving to Bedford where he met the undercover officer and was promptly arrested.
Before his trial, the defence argued that Shy was in the USA at the time of the messaging, therefore was jurisdictionally exempt from prosecution.
Hellbound and Down 