Locations
Allen Grove, Stokesley, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, TS9
Description
A prolific sex offender from North Yorkshire who targeted children on social media and threatened to share indecent images of them online has been jailed.
Mark Anthony Wilson was sentenced to six years and eight months imprisonment, at Teesside Crown Court yesterday, for a catalogue of sexual offences involving children as young as seven.
North Yorkshire Police said the 35-year-old, from Allen Grove in Stokesley, targeted children and teenagers across the country using social media.
He asked for intimate, sexual photographs and video, threatening to expose them and their families if they did not give into his requests, between 2018 and 2020.
The force said he posted a number of images online, leaving his victims frightened, humiliated and degraded.
In one case, Wilson sent a mother a video of her naked teenage son.
In another, he sent racially offensive, abusive and sexual messages to a 16-year-old girl, threatening to post videos on YouTube claiming her father had raped her.
During their investigation, officers found Wilson had obtained images and a video of a seven-year-olds genitals after exchanging more than 200 messages and Facetime calls with the child.
Wilson also had indecent images of an eight-year-old girl and had exchanged 1,149 messages with her.
He was jailed after he pleaded guilty to 27 offences at York Magistrates Court over the course of three hearings, between August 2021 and February 2022.
Detective Constable Karen Barugh said Wilson committed multiple malicious and sexual offences against children and caused them great distress.
She added: They must have been terrified at the thought of him carrying out his threats.
Despite being arrested, he continued to commit offences while on bail, his offending increasing in severity over time. He was prolific in his targeting of children and has shown no remorse for what he did.
I'd like to thank those children and young people who were brave enough to come forward and give a statement to the police. I would urge anyone else to do the same if they are victim of any type of sexual offence.