The Darkest Web: 1. Meeting a monster
World of Secrets
BBC
4.7 • 765 Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
US Special Agents Greg Squire and Pete Manning work together to track down people who sexually abuse children and share images of their abuse online. They thought they knew what they were dealing with but they’ve just discovered they have no idea. In a prison in Amsterdam they meet a prolific paedophile, Robert Micklesons, who reveals to them the vast online world created by paedophiles to share images and video of child sexual abuse. When they get back to the US they get an urgent call. A police officer in Denmark has found images of a girl in America who appears to have been sexually abused for six years. But no one has any idea where she is. Their job is to find her. But how will they do it?
Season 11 of World of Secrets, The Darkest Web, is a BBC Eye investigation for the BBC World Service.
This podcast includes some upsetting scenes, discussions of child sexual abuse, and there’s some strong language.
For further information on the issues raised in the programme, contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.
Reporter and Presenter: Sam Piranty Writer and Producer: Annabel Deas Script advice: Matt Willis Sound design: Neil Churchill Composer: Rob Lewis Executive Producer: Rebecca Henschke Commissioning Senior Producer: Sarah Green Commissioning Editor: Jon Manel
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | Oh, hello. You have chosen a BBC podcast, but before you listen to it, we thought you might like our podcast too. |
| 0:12.1 | You might. You might. It is called Sightraught with me, Nick Grimshaw. |
| 0:15.2 | And me, Annie Mack. And we talk about the week in music. |
| 0:18.2 | All the news, all the cultural happenings in the UK and beyond. |
| 0:22.2 | And great guests. And it's on BBC Sounds. Yes, where you can also enjoy lots of |
| 0:27.1 | playlists, music mixes and live radio. Everything from my six music breakfast show to Radio |
| 0:33.2 | 3 Unwind. But obviously start with our our podcast sidetrack. Obviously. Obviously. |
| 0:40.1 | So if you like music, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:45.5 | Episodes of World of Secrets are released weekly, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. |
| 0:50.9 | But if you can't wait, you can listen to the latest episode now, a week early. |
| 0:53.3 | First on BBC Sounds. Before we start, this series follows the work of two US special agents who fight child sexual abuse. |
| 1:01.5 | So I need to warn you that we will be discussing this throughout. |
| 1:05.0 | And there's some strong language. |
| 1:10.4 | In January of 2014, we had gotten information from a very near and dear friend of ours, MADS, |
| 1:18.6 | and he had discovered some images of a girl, and her pictures were being distributed across the dark web. |
| 1:30.0 | Somewhere, a 12-year-old girl is being sexually abused in her own home. |
| 1:37.9 | The abuse began when she was just six years old. |
| 1:41.7 | And it was his determination that this girl was likely an American. |
| 1:46.0 | So we raised our hand, you know, ready to go and willing to, you know, do as much as we could to try to locate this girl. |
| 1:54.0 | Her abuser is sharing photographs of her with a vast community of child abusers on the dark web. |
| 2:01.8 | An encrypted corner of the internet only accessible using special software. |
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