Paedophile sent sex messages to girl in USA
BBCA paedophile sent sexual messages to a 14-year-old girl in the USA and collected images of children as young as three being raped, a court has heard.
Christopher Troughton, 22, amassed more than 1,000 indecent images of children, including more than 350 in the most serious category, over an eight-year period, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
He was cautioned for making an indecent image in 2021 but ignored the "warning across his bows" and escalated his offending, Judge Tim Gittins said.
Troughton, who admitted attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and three counts of making indecent images of children, was jailed for 16 months suspended for two years.
Northumbria Police raided his home in Gateshead and seized his iPhone on 5 April 2023 after receiving information he had shared indecent images, prosecutor Omar Ahmad said.
The phone was found to contain 352 of the most serious Category A images, 356 Category B images and 518 Category C, as well as two extreme pornographic videos, the court heard.
Officers also found Snapchat messages he had been exchanging with the girl in the USA, who told him she was 14.
He requested naked pictures of her, with the girl sending him graphic videos of herself, Mr Ahmad said.
Troughton also told the girl it was "so sad" she lived far away as he would have "loved to meet" her, the court heard.
'Abhorrent' and 'sickening'
He made full admissions to police, telling officers he started looking at indecent images of children in 2015 when he was 16, the court heard.
In mitigation, Fiona Lamb said Troughton, of George Scott Street in South Shields, had had a traumatic life but Judge Gittins said so had many people and they had not resorted to such behaviour.
The court heard Troughton had no previous convictions but had received a police caution in 2021 for sending a Category C image of a child on Snapchat.
The judge said that had been a "shot across the bows" but Troughton had continued with and increased the "gravity" of his offending.
Judge Gittins said the images were "abhorrent" and "sickening", but he agreed with Probation Service experts who said there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in Troughton's case.
Troughton's sentence will include intensive work with the Probation Service and he will have to comply with a sexual harm prevention order limiting his access to the internet and children and sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.