Locations
Havelock Road, Bromley, London, BR2
Description
A Bromley paedophile who sent explicit photos and videos of himself to young girls he met online has been jailed.
Carl Spencer, 31, of Havelock Road, engaged in conversations with several girls, aged between 12 and 13, on a messaging app.
On each occasion, the conversation became sexual in nature, leading to Spencer sending explicit images and videos of himself to the girls.
After receiving information of his activities, Essex police arrested him at an address in Southend on April 14, 2018.
Officers also found more than 200 indecent images and videos of children when they searched his phone and Dropbox account.
On February 13, Spencer pleaded guilty to 23 child sex offences, including eight counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, nine counts of distributing indecent images of children and three counts of possessing indecent images of children.
He was also charged with two counts of causing a child to watch or look at an image of sexual activity, and one count of attempting to cause or incident a girl to engage in sexual activity.
At Basildon Crown Court he was jailed for a total of four years and eight months on March 5.
Investigating officer PC Lewis Gordon, from the Police Online Investigation Team (POLIT), said: Carl Spencer is a prolific offender who repeatedly targeted young girls.
When he established how young they were he deliberately ensure their conversations became sexual in nature and sent them explicit images of himself.
He is a dangerous offender who, I have no doubt, would have continued to contact girls if he had not been arrested and convicted.
POLIT works to protect children from the threat of online offending and targets offenders suspected of making, possessing, and distributing indecent images of children.
Detective Inspector Jo Collins, who manages POLIT, said: This is another example of the fantastic work my team has done to keep people safe.
The work my team does often takes place away from the public eye but is absolutely crucial to keeping children safe. Last year, we safeguarded more than 300 children.
The online threat to children is growing and my teams work has never been more important.
Its just another way were protecting Essex.