Man jailed for sex e-mails to girl

The court was told the girl was upset by the experience

A man who lured a young girl into an e-mail discussion about sex acts by posing as another child has been jailed for seven years.

Unemployed Bradley Webb, 42, from Cwmbran, south Wales, set up an e-mail identity as a girl called "Natasha" and then embarked on a "sinister" series of communications with the child.

The defendant had posed as a girl from Canada

Webb, a Canadian national, had found out the child's e-mail address and began exploiting the girl, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

The girl's mother noticed her daughter had been upset after using the computer and the police were informed.

David Webster, prosecuting, said Webb had "groomed" the girl to take part in the discussions before the online chats took a "sinister turn", when sexual acts were mentioned by the defendant.

"It is the Crown's case that there was absolutely no doubt that this defendant was purporting to be Natasha," said Mr Webster.

He does accept responsibility for a great deal of what he has done

Stephen Jeary, defending

The jury was told that police officers had uncovered 1,650 indecent photos of children on Webb's computer at his home.

Sentencing, Judge Roderick Denyer QC said: "The evil in respect of indecent photographs of children and the making of indecent photos of children lies in the degradation, exploitation and abuse of children involved in the original incident.

"I accept that you are at the end of the chain but that chain must start with exploitation and abuse."

Indecent photos

Stephen Jeary, defending, said: "Unlike many people in this position he does accept responsibility for a great deal of what he has done."

Webb was sentenced to 18 months for three counts of indecency with children between 1997 and 2001 to run consecutively, totalling four-and-a-half years.

He was also sentenced to a total of 12 months for four counts of possessing indecent photos of a child and a further 18 months for 17 counts of making indecent photos.

Webb was placed on the sex offenders' register indefinitely and disqualified from working with children.