A Lincolnshire man who requested sexual pictures from three under-age girls after pretending to be a teenage boy was jailed for three years and eight months on Tuesday.
Francis Mowday, 27, of Carlton Park, Manby, had previously pleaded guilty to five charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity involving three different girls aged 12, 13 and 14 on dates between February 1 and September 7, 2017.
He also admitted a single charge of sexual communication with a child and three charges of making a total of 459 indecent images of a child.
Lincoln Crown Court heard Mowday’s offending first came to light when a relative noticed a 12-year-old girl using her mobile phone.
The device was found to contain a series of conversations in which Mowday requested naked photographs and sexual acts from the girl. He received a five minute video from the girl and sent her a photo of a teenage boy in return.
Police became involved and discovered Mowday had made similar requests to two other girls aged 13 and 14. On both occasions he sent the girls pictures of a teenage boy.
A fourth girl, aged 13, also refused a request from Mowday for “sexy pictures,” the court heard.
Following the investigation which began in May 2017, police found 459 indecent images of children on two devices belonging to Mowday, who admitted his offending during interview.
Mark Watson, mitigating, told the court Mowday, who was the sole carer for his mother, had no previous convictions and suffered from a difficult medical condition which made him socially inadequate and from which his father died.
He added there was no actual physical contact between Mowday and his victims.
Passing sentence Judge Steven Coupland told Mowday his offending was too serious to avoid prison despite his medical condition and positive good character.
The judge said: “You were using a false name, pretending to be younger than you were, and sending a picture that wasn’t you.”
He added: “The damage to those girls is incalculable.”
Mowday was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and told to register as a sex offender for life.
Wayne Pilkington, DC at Lincolnshire Police said: “Mowday made up a profile and pretended to be someone completely different to trick young girls into sending him images.
“Mowday has been jailed for these crimes, all committed on his laptop and mobile phone.
“Young victims have been exploited by a man who did not care for their age or vulnerability.”
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