"Dangerous" Doncaster man jailed for online child sex offences
Maidens sent a number of child sex abuse images, depicting victims as young as 11, to a decoy account
A Doncaster man described as 'dangerous' by a judge has been jailed for six years for online child sex offences.
46 year old Lee Maidens, of Brabbs Avenue, was arrested after a police search in October 2024.
It came after he started communicating online with someone he thought was a child, but was actually a decoy.
Maidens sent a number of child sex abuse images, depicting victims as young as 11, to the account.
He was charged with distributing indecent images and videos of children, four of which were Category A, and three of which were Category B.
He was also charged with attempting to cause a child under the age of 13 to watch or look at an image of sexual activity, and arranging or facilitating the commission of a sexual offence against a child.
Maidens admitted the the first three charges, before changing his plea on the fourth ahead of a trail at Sheffield Crown Court - where he has been jailed and handed a four year extended licence period.
Investigating Officer Sam Musgrove, of South Yorkshire Police, said: “ISOT officers quickly responded to intelligence that Maidens had committed online child sexual offences, and we took strong action.
“Although Maidens refused to comment during his police interview, our officers worked hard to gather sufficient evidence to bring charges against him for his vile offences.
“Individuals like Maidens may believe that they can get away with online criminality, but this sentence goes to show that we will act on intelligence to bring offenders to justice and protect children online.”