'Deviant' shared photos of himself abusing child
Durham PoliceA "deviant" paedophile who shared pictures of himself molesting a child and secretly took pictures of men getting changed has been jailed for six and a half years.
Gavin Jackson, 25, exchanged thousands of messages and pictures with other abusers online having filmed himself groping a child, Teesside Crown Court heard.
He carried on collecting and sharing indecent images of children even after being arrested and released upon investigation.
Jackson, from Spennymoor, County Durham, admitted 17 offences, including voyeurism, making and distributing indecent images of children and sexually assaulting a child.
Police first arrested Jackson, of Moorside, at his home on 9 October 2023 after receiving information he possessed indecent images of children, prosecutor Ellen Wright said.
Several devices were seized and downloads completed, which were examined more than a year later on 11 November 2024, the court heard.
Thousands of images
Officers discovered a folder titled with a child's name, in which they found more than 600 images of a child taken without the subject's knowledge, including a number which showed Jackson molesting them.
There were also images of Jackson attempting to sexually abuse a second child, as well as a hoard of more than 4,000 child sex abuse images, including almost 1,400 in the most serious category with victims as young as four, the court heard.
Police also discovered more than 9,000 messages and 4,000 child sex abuse images Jackson had exchanged with another person on Telegram over a 13-month period, Ms Wright said.
Jackson had also distributed 96 indecent images of children, including 17 he had made of himself abusing the child, to nine other abusers on WhatsApp and Telegram, the court heard.
There were also three folders, each with a different man's name, that were found to contain more than 700 covertly recorded images of three men getting changed at a venue in County Durham, the court heard.
'Men felt violated'
On 12 November, Jackson was arrested again with more devices seized and searched, the court heard.
A mobile phone was found to contain more images of indecent children he had downloaded since his first arrest, the court heard.
In statements read to the court, the mother of the child Jackson molested said she was devastated to learn of the abuse, while the three men said they felt "violated" and distressed at the thought of intimate images of them being shared online.
Judge Stephen Ashurst said Jackson had carried out a "variety of disturbing" and "deviant" offences and there was no question he had a sexual interest in children and got gratification from abusing them.
A sexual harm prevention order restricting his future use of the internet and contact with children was also made to last indefinitely.