Ashington man Benjamin Parr jailed after being caught with sickening videos and images of children under 12

Benjamin Parr thought he was having the sickening exchange with an internet user called Dan, but was actually the subject of a covert police sting.

Prosecutor Rachael Glover told Newcastle Crown Court Parr had struck up a conversation with the officer over the website Kik, in a group police believed was linked to child abuse, and they began to exchange private messages.

During four days of vile chat, Parr confessed he "loved things he shouldn't like," said he needed a child who was "trained" and boasted that his "eyes had only recently been opened" when he was sent an image of a girl aged seven or eight, and he “liked it”.

Parr sent three videos and one picture of child abuse, featuring victims aged between five and 13, as well as a bestiality video to 'Dan' during the conversations in April last year.

And when police raided his home, they seized a mobile phone containing a total of 21 indecent images, both still and moving, across all three categories of seriousness and featuring children aged between seven and 12.

Parr, 27, of Woodlands Road in Ashington, admitted three charges of making indecent images of children, distributing indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornography.

In sentencing him to 16 months behind bars, Judge Edward Binloss told him: "You and Dan started communicating over Kik, then on private messages.

"There were four days of explicit conversations with this undercover police officer about child abuse and about your sexualised fantasies with children.”

Parr must sign the sex offenders’ register and abide by a sexual harm prevention order for ten years.

John Crawford, mitigating, said Parr has split from his partner and lost his job.

He had added his client would co-operate with the probation service, saying: "Work can be done with him, and he is willing to do it."