Paedophile targeted girls on social media - police

A man targeted girls on social media and blackmailed them to send explicit images.

David Brennan, 41, of Peppleton Close in Hull, groomed and then met with girls aged between 12 and 14, Humberside Police said.

He was found guilty of a string sexual offences, including paying for sexual services of a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, following a three-week trial at Hull Crown Court.

Brennan, who pleaded guilty to seven charges, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on 18 July.

Det Sgt Stuart Fox said officers seized Brennan's phone and other electronic devices after "multiple reports of young girls being approached by him via social media".

He said: "On full analysis of his devices, it was established that Brennan knowingly communicated and coerced young girls via social media, often seeking them out, luring them in with the promise of financial gain then blackmailing and manipulating them into sending photos or meeting up with him after repeatedly grooming them, all to appease his sexual perversion.

"Not only this, but there was profound evidence that Brennan would send sexually explicit photographs of himself and would threaten the girls if they did not comply with his demands in return.

"Brennan is a vindictive individual who refused to admit what he did in its entirety, subjecting the girls and their families to a trial so they had to live through the ordeal all over again as a way for him to attempt to maintain his coercive control over them."

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