Man admits grooming young girls

Paul Etheridge will be sentenced on 22 February

A 24-year-old man has admitted grooming young girls from across the UK on the internet.

Paul Etheridge, from Cratfield, Suffolk, admitted having sex with a 15-year-old girl and possessing thousands of indecent images of minors.

He was caught by police after a 13-year-old girl reported him after he asked her to email indecent pictures.

Guildford Crown Court heard Etheridge, tried to groom girls in Lancashire, Belfast, Norwich, London and Surrey.

A special division of Surrey Police, one of a few UK forces with a dedicated Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) arrested him within a month of opening the case.

They found Etheridge, a carpenter, had more than 200 indecent images of girls aged 13 to 15 on his mobile phone and thousands more on his computer.

'Web of offending'

The court was told Etheridge offered mobile phone top-up vouchers to girls in return for them sending indecent images of themselves in messages.

Etheridge was charged with possession of indecent images, inciting the production of indecent images, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and actually engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl from London.

He pleaded guilty to 26 offences, while a further seven remain on file.

Det Insp Theresa Breen, of Surrey Police, said: "Our specialist team unravelled a web of offending stretching right across the country.

"This case was very serious because the offender had escalated from obtaining images from the internet, to grooming girls to make their own photos and actually meeting a girl and engaging in sexual activity.

"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."

Etheridge will be sentenced on 22 February.