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== Overview ==
''The'' ''Wonderland Club,'' named after Alice in Wonderland,<ref name=":4">{{cite web|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/wonderland-club-with-a-sick-agenda-1.167573|title=Wonderland club with a sick agenda|work=Herald Scotland|accessdate=8 October 2014}}</ref> was described as "an international network of paedophiles involving the rape of boys and girls live on camera and the traffic in images of the torture of children as young as two months".<ref name="the Guardian" /> Created by two American paedophiles,<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1322551/Girl-8-raped-to-order-on-the-internet.html|title=Girl, 8, raped to order on the internet|author=Sean O'Neill|date=14 February 2001|work=Telegraph.co.uk|accessdate=8 October 2014}}</ref> at the time of the sting, it consisted of an international ring of 180 paedophiles.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-23042/Internet-paedophiles-jailed.html|title=Internet paedophiles are jailed|work=Mail Online|accessdate=8 October 2014}}</ref> The investigation had been sparked by a tip-off from [[United States]] police investigating the 1996 rape of an 8-year-old girl broadcast live to paedophiles by webcam.<ref name="pedoring" /><ref name=":3" /> The accused, Ronald Riva of Greenfield, California, was in a paedophile gang called ''The Orchid Club<ref>{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/UK/02/13/paedophile.police/index.html?related|title=CNN.com - How police smashed child porn club - February 13, 2001|publisher=|accessdate=8 October 2014}}</ref>'' and was encouraged during the assault by members of ''Wonderland''.<ref name="the Guardian" />
One reason for the high profile of the operation was the unusually high number of images involved possessed and produced and distributed by ''Wonderland'': 750,000 images, 1,800 videos. One requirement for entry to the club, apart from a recommendation from an existing member, was the expectation to supply 10,000 new or self-produced pornographic images of children.<ref name="the Guardian" />
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Despite substantial work by many of the agencies <!--who?-->involved, only 17 of the 1,263 unique identifiable faces appearing in the images have been identified:<ref name=":3" /> one from [[Argentina]], one from [[Chile]], one from [[Portugal]], 6 from the United Kingdom, and 7 from the United States. The Portuguese national was later identified as [[Rui Pedro Teixeira Mendonça]], an 11-year-old boy kidnapped in [[Lousada]] on 4 March 1998 and whose whereabouts are currently unknown.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1336247/Internet-child-sex-perverts-escape-justice.html|title=Internet child sex perverts escape justice|last=O'Neill|first=Sean|date=3 August 2011|website=Telegraph|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=20 March 2019}}</ref>
Six members of the club suicided after the raids.<ref name=":4" /> Other raids related to the Cathedral operation include 1999's Operation Queensland involving 20 police forces and 2001's Operation Janitress which included police forces across 12 regions.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1166135.stm|title=BBC News - UK - Tackling online child pornography|publisher=|accessdate=8 October 2014}}</ref>
==UK members==
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*Stephen Ellis, 40, computer salesman. Suicided prior to trial.<ref name=":0" />
*David Hines, 30, unemployed, nicknamed "Mutt's Nutts", who discussed the club publicly on [[Panorama (TV programme)|Panorama]]. Jailed for two-and-a-half years.<ref name="bbc.co.uk" />
*Gary Salt, taxi driver, former engineer, nicknamed "Jazz" and "chairman" of the club. Assisted the Cathedral sting by providing his login details. In 1998, he was sentenced to 12 years for sex offences.<ref name=":4" /> Released from prison in 2010 (having changed his name to Anthony Andrews)
*Gavin Seagers, 29, computer consultant and [[Sea Cadets]] youth leader nicknamed "Spank Daddy".<ref name=":2" /> Jailed for two years.<ref name="bbc.co.uk" />
*Antoni Skinner, 36, computer consultant, nicknamed "Uhura" and "Satan". Skinner had a method of encryption, so officers could only find 390 images.{{cn|date=March 2019}} Jailed for 18 months.<ref name="bbc.co.uk" />
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==References==
{{Reflist}}
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