Pervert who downloaded images of children to 'boast' he had abused them is jailed
A child sex fantasist who downloaded pictures of youngsters from Facebook to boast he had abused them has been jailed for two years.
David Graham, from Tipton, was also caught with 200 indecent images of children and 25 extreme pornographic photos on phones he hid in a sock in the boot of his car.
Officers from West Midlands Police Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team spotted David Graham using images from unsuspecting Facebook users’ accounts to raise his seedy online profile.
Graham posted these non-indecent images on online messaging boards and claimed to be sexually abusing the children in the images.
Ultimately, the claims were proven to be unfounded and used as a way to raise his credibility as a child sex abuser online.
However, officers were able to identify the children from the images taken off Facebook and provide advice and support to their families.
Detective Inspector Theresa Grainger, from OCSET, said: "Whilst in this case it was established that Graham hadn’t sexually abused children, we should be mindful that behind every child abuse image there is a child who has suffered at the hands of an abuser.
"Accessing these images is not in any way innocent, it simply creates a continuous demand that results in more and more children being subjected to this horrific abuse."
Graham pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of extreme pornographic images.
He denied the other charges, but following a trial the 34-year-old was found guilty of distributing an indecent video of a child; publishing an obscene article and making 194 indecent photographs of children.
These included category A images - the most serious category - as well as category B and category C images.
He was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court last Wednesday to two years and six months in prison.
Graham was placed on the Sex Offender Register for 10 years and will also be the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 15 years.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "If you have been the victim of sexual abuse, no matter how long ago it happened, we can help. We have specially trained officers who can explain what will happen if you want to talk about what happened to you and what your options are. For more information visit: west-midlands.police.uk/your-options/child-sexual-abuse."
