JAILED: Married man 'posed as young girl to get indecent images'
A predatory father-of-two from Bilston who got young girls to send him naked pictures by pretending to be a girl himself has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Christopher Brown, of Gough Road, set up a fake account on instant messaging service Kik.
He pretended to be a 13-year-old girl and messaged four girls aged between 11 and 14.
The 40-year-old married father sent them images of a young girl and asked for similar pictures in return.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard two girls aged 12 and 11 declined, but two, aged 12 and 14, sent him indecent pictures.
Brown was also found to be in possession of thousands of indecent images and videos of children, including 53 in the most serious category.
He was sentenced on Tuesday to 42 months in jail and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.
Mr Patrick Sullivan, prosecuting, said there was an 'element of grooming' in Brown's 'predatory' behaviour.
He said: "He used a profile picture of a child to corroborate his false identity. He then contacted children of around the same age and engaged in digital conversations."
Mr Sullivan said one of the girls added Brown to her friendship group meaning he had access to others of a similar age.
The court also heard Brown took step to 'cover his tracks' which included using the Tor software system that allows web users to surf with anonymity.
Mr Simon Hanns, defending, said it could not be confirmed the girls contacted by Brown were not in fact other predatory paedophiles.
He added: "This is a very sad case of a 40-year-old man who lived an ostensibly ordinary life with his wife and two young children.
"But behind that was an addiction to this sort of offending. The only real mitigation I can offer is his early guilty plea and that he was incredibly open with police in interview."
Brown admitted three counts of possessing indecent images and videos of children, two counts of distributing indecent images and videos of children, and four of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
