A 36-YEAR-OLD man who engaged in sexual activity in front of a child via a webcam has been jailed.
Unemployed Alan Russell, of Anerley Hill, Penge, was given an indeterminate sentence and told he must serve at least seven months.
After this he will be assessed until it is decided he can be safely let back into the community.
Russell has also been put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for an indefinite period.
He was sentenced by Judge Warwick McKinnon at Croydon Crown Court on May 30 after pleading guilty to 13 charges on April 28.
These were 11 counts of making indecent photographs/pseudo images of children, one count of possessing 1,993 indecent photographs and videos of children and one of engaging in sexual activity via a webcam in the presence of a child.
An examination of Russell’s computer showed he sought out teenage girls through internet chat sites.
Lying about his age, he befriended the girls and asked them to show their naked bodies on a webcam while he performed a sex act on himself.
Detective Inspector Jane Corrigan from Bromley police led a team which used a search warrant at his address on September 12 last year after receiving information he was downloading child porn.
When the officers arrived at 7.30am, they found him in the middle of messaging a 15-year-old girl.
Russell’s bedsit was searched, his computer, mobile phone, camcorder and a box of discs were seized and he was arrested.
Det Insp Corrigan said: “This case was very serious because the offender had escalated from obtaining images from the internet, to grooming girls into showing themselves to him in various states of undress.
“Modern technology provides a wealth of educational and entertainment benefits for children, but with many now owning their own mobile phone or having a computer in their bedroom parents must also be aware of the potential dangers.”
