Sex offender who used Facebook to groom child jailed

A 42-year-old man has been jailed after pretending to be a teenager on Facebook to groom a child.

Douglas Warren, 42, of Edenbridge in Kent, exchanged explicit images and videos with his victim and even planned to meet her at a hotel.

The booking was cancelled when he found out Kent Police knew about what he was doing online.

The court heard how Warren claimed to be aged 19 when he first sent his victim a friend request on Facebook in February 2015.

After the request was accepted he sent her explicit images of himself and encouraged her to do the same in return.

He also suggested that they could one day move in together and possibly get married.

Officers seized Warren’s mobile telephone, laptop computer and other devices following his arrest on March 27.

They found more than 4,000 child abuse images and 31 extreme pornographic images.

Warren was jailed for 21 months at Maidstone Crown Court admitting four counts relating to child sex offences and eight counts relating to the possession and/or making of pornographic images including child abuse images.

In addition to a custodial sentence of 21 months, Warren must also sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.