By Grâçia Ada Obi
A former firefighter Robert Stevenson, who previously lived in Derbyshire has been jailed for seven years after paying children to send him explicit images online.
Stevenson would trawl social media sites and message women online, offering them money to send naked pictures. However, many of the victims were young girls, Derby Crown Court said.
“He even sent a photo of himself in uniform to one of his victims, claiming to be 19.”
The matters came to light when one of Stevenson’s victims, a 15-year-old girl, told Police that he had threatened to post an explicit picture of her online.
He had spoken to the girl via direct messages on Instagram asking her if she wanted to make £100. The conversation later moved to Snapchat, with Stevenson telling her he was 17 after she told him she was 17.
Stevenson was arrested and his devices were seized. Checks on them found he had been messaging a number of girls, and had paid several of them to send him photos and videos of themselves. Analysis of his bank account found numerous payments he had made to several girls.
The 31-year-old, previously of Long Eaton, was later charged with a number of offences including cause/incite the sexual exploitation of a child aged 13 to 17; cause/incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity and making an indecent photo/pseudo photograph of a child.
He denied the charges but was found guilty after a trial at Derby Crown Court. He appeared at the same court for sentencing on September 27, where he was jailed for seven years. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was placed on the sex offenders register.
Child Sexual Exploitation Supervisor Detective Sergeant Sophie Draycott said: “This has been a long investigation which revealed Stevenson has been communicating with children in a sexual manner right across the country.
“His behaviour was appalling and repeated so I am pleased that he has now been brought to justice for his crimes and is serving a prison sentence.
“I’d also like to thank all the victims for their bravery and support throughout the case.
“Now that social media is such a massive part of our society, I’d encourage all parents to please be aware of who their children are communicating with online, urge them to make sure they are not sending any images to anyone and let their children know that if they do receive any unwanted or inappropriate messages they should tell an adult.”