Salisbury man jailed for 21 child sexual offences while posing as 16 year old online
"Cases such as this are often shocking and disturbing"
A man has been jailed for three years and eight months after making hundreds of indecent images and videos of children whilst posing as a 16-year-old online.
Adrian Scott, 58 of Tidworth Road, Boscombe, pleaded guilty to:
- 10 counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child
- Six counts of inciting a boy to engage in sexual activity without penetration
- Three counts of making indecent photographs of a child
- One count of paying for sexual services of a boy without penetration
- One count of distributing an indecent photograph of a child
Following a national investigation concerning child sexual abuse and exploitation relating to a website which has storage and file hosting service, Scott was identified as having an account and having uploaded and shared a number of files, while he claimed to be 16.
In April 2020, officers from Wiltshire Police’s Child Internet Exploitation Team attended his address at the time in Great Durnford, Salisbury, with a search warrant.
A number of items were seized from the property where the extent of offending was revealed, with evidence of Scott posing as a 16-year-old boy online to talk to other people about indecent images and using online chat sites to encourage boys as young as 13 to perform sexual acts, with money being sent on more than one occasion by online transfer.
The charges relate to 1,459 images and videos being recovered.
Det Con Jason Walsh, of the Wiltshire Police Child Internet Exploitation Team, said:
"Cases such as this are often shocking and disturbing, and our job is to safeguard the victims.
“We are pleased to have secured a custodial sentence for Scott and this is testament to some superb partnership work.
“We will continue to act on intelligence we receive on these abhorrent crimes and will ensure the internet is not a safe place for individuals like Scott to prey on the most vulnerable in our communities.”
For more information and support for anyone who is concerned about someone accessing indecent images of children, or who has wider concerns about child abuse, you can visit Wiltshire Police website.