A man who took thousands of pictures of girls as young as seven and used AI to undress them was repeatedly released on bail to his flat overlooking a playground.
Zafer Dogan, 32, captured the images of adults and children going about their ‘daily business’ without their knowledge or consent.
He was jailed for two years and four months at Wood Green Court on Thursday having previously pleaded guilty to multiple image offences, including making indecent images of children.
Dogan, who works as a mechanic, was repeatedly bailed despite the ‘risk’ he posed locally.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley called for better treatment of victims of sexual offences, adding ‘the children should have been put first, not the paedophile.’
Speaking outside court he said: ‘There’s so much pressure on the courts to not remand people in custody.
‘But this paedophile has been put back in the vicinity of the victims. The victims have had to move out.
‘If you want victims to come forward they need to be confident the system will support them.’
Zafer Dogan is seen at Wood Green Crown Court. He has now been jailed for two years and four months
The court heard Dogan was arrested on July 16 on suspicion of offences involving indecent images of children
Police Constable Natalie Scagliarini, who led the investigation, said: ‘This is a deeply distressing case. Dogan’s actions were predatory and dangerous. He targeted the most innocent of scenes – children playing or out walking with their parents – and manipulated the photos he took in the most sickening way.
‘The nature of his offending has understandably left those who have learned of it feeling unsettled and violated, not knowing when they might be being watched or photographed and for what purpose.
‘We remain committed to protecting women and children and bringing those who seek to exploit them before the courts, and I thank those affected by Dogan’s offending whose bravery and support has helped us to achieve today’s result.’
The court heard Dogan was arrested on July 16 on suspicion of offences involving indecent images of children.
The defendant ‘freed himself’ from his handcuffs, ran away and discarded his mobile phone into a nearby garden but was stopped soon after and his device was seized.
Prosecutor Sarah Gabay said investigators discovered ‘thousands of images of women and children which seem to have been taken without their consent or their knowledge’.
Ms Gabay said these individuals were ‘going about their daily business’ in the photographs, which included pictures of children on climbing frames.
According to police, Dogan had taken more than 5,000 images, many of which were from his bedroom window which overlooked a playground.
The court was told that photos of 33 adult women and two children – aged seven and 13 – were ‘digitally altered’ using AI software to create sexualised content.
Dogan was arrested again on August 4 and the following day he was charged and remanded by police.
The defendant appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on August 6 and accepted all the charges against him.
According to the prosecutor, Dogan has ‘been on conditional bail throughout these proceedings’.
Dogan gave no comment interviews after both arrests, the court heard.
The court heard victim impact statements from the mothers of Dogan’s two child victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The mother of the 13-year-old victim described feeling as if she had been ‘punched in the gut’ when police officers told her what had happened.
She said: ‘I’m really worried that my daughter’s photos are online and other paedophiles have them.’
The mother of the seven-year-old victim described feeling ‘helpless’, adding: ‘Our lives will never be the same again and I can’t do anything about it all because one man exploited my child.’
Joseph Carr, mitigating, said the defendant ‘recognises the profound seriousness’ of his offending.
He said the defendant had separated from his long-term partner in 2025 and subsequently ‘spiralled into depression’.
The lawyer said Dogan ‘fell down the rabbit hole and was unable to find his way out’, but added there is no excuse for his actions.
The judge described Dogan as a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character during the hearing having read multiple character references, which Mr Carr said ‘speak to positive character.’
Dogan, of Enfield, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child which included 900 category C images, 294 category B images and 653 category A images – which are the most severe.
He also admitted possessing extreme pornography, possessing a prohibited image of a child, creating purported intimate images of an adult, obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty and a further two counts of making indecent photographs of a child.
The Met Police said that alongside the CPS, it had opposed Dogan’s bail on three occasions but their attempts were unsuccessful and the offender was allowed to return to his flat.
Detective Chief Inspector Brian Kelleher described the force’s ‘frustration’ at the court’s decision to repeatedly bail Dogan, who had used the AI software to ‘nudify’ images.
The detective said the ‘whole details’ of the case were raised in court, ‘including the fact that he was being bailed to effectively the area where he had been offending’.
Mr Kelleher said: ‘The matters at court… went through a series of challenges where the police and CPS opposed bail, opposed his being bailed back to the address, but the courts continued to bail him, and that went through a series of three or four different hearings.’
He added: ‘There are certainly frustrations, especially where, like in this case, we identify an offender who’s moved beyond the normal pattern of slightly more passive collecting of material into producing it yourself, and when we then highlight the risk to the court to really try and challenge those systems to put someone into custody.’
Mr Kelleher said ‘barriers to entry’ in accessing images and using tools to create them are ‘low’.
He said: ‘We find that offenders are opportunistic.
‘The barriers to entry being so low in this world, effectively, so either accessing images or using tools to edit or create them, mean that people who have that latent interest, the thresholds for them being able to advance into actually using tools, they’re able to do so.’
Police Constable Natalie Scagliarini, who led the investigation, said: ‘This is a deeply distressing case. Dogan’s actions were predatory and dangerous. He targeted the most innocent of scenes – children playing or out walking with their parents – and manipulated the photos he took in the most sickening way.
‘The nature of his offending has understandably left those who have learned of it feeling unsettled and violated, not knowing when they might be being watched or photographed and for what purpose.’
The head of Metropolitan Police Sir Mark Rowley attended the hearing during the afternoon.
He said: ‘It is not often you will see me outside court following a sentencing, but this case is yet another example of victims being let down by a criminal justice system that too often fails to put their safety first – in this case children.
‘Ever increasing volumes of cases are raised with me by angry and sometimes upset officers who are doing all they can to protect victims and communities but feel hamstrung by a justice system that makes seemingly unfathomable decisions.’
Courts should only bail offenders ‘where necessary and proportionate’, the Government said on Thursday evening.
A spokesperson said: ‘These were awful crimes and our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.
‘The law is clear that bail should only be used where necessary and proportionate, including to protect victims, witnesses and the public while investigations and court proceedings are ongoing.
‘We’ve brought in tough new laws to ban AI tools designed to create child sexual abuse images, target websites that spread them and stop this vile material being created in the first place.’
