Bury Teaching Assistant Jailed After Grooming Pupil Online
A teaching support worker from Bury has been sentenced after grooming a pupil online.
26 year old Matthew Settle of Sunnybank Road in Bury, pleaded guilty to six counts of possessing indecent images of children, one count of making an indecent image of a child, and one count of abuse of a position of trust.
He’s now been sentenced to 18 months in prison at Bolton Crown Court.
Settle will also be on the sex offender register for ten years, and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years.
Intelligence was passed to Greater Manchester Police from the Child Exploitation Online Protection Services (CEOP) relating to indecent images on a Facebook account.
In April this year, Greater Manchester Police carried out a warrant at the home of Matthew Settle, and further investigation revealed that he had set up several fake Facebook profiles, pretending to be a 13-year-old and an 18-year-old boy to befriend young boys online.
Analysis of Settle’s computer revealed that he had downloaded more than 6000 indecent images of children including some of the highest level.
Detective Inspector Tony Tighe from Greater Manchester Police’s Bury Division, said:
“Settle built up fake relationships between his profiles, which he pretended were brothers. One of the people he befriended was an unsuspecting pupil whom he chatted to over Facebook. Settle encouraged him to begin a relationship with his fake sister and send inappropriate photos of himself for her.
“Settle was a predator who tricked young boys into befriending him online, causing particular distress to the one boy who he manipulated into conversing with him inappropriately. He also possessed a large amount of indecent photographs of children for his own sexual gratification.
“He broke the trust of the pupil and the school he worked at and today he has been rightly sentenced for his crimes.”
The pupil, the family and the school are now being supported by the police and the local authority. Anyone who would like further information about being safe online can go to www.thinkuknow.co.uk.