Stuart Street 27

Description

A Nottinghamshire teacher who shared sick child porn with other paedophiles and pretended to be a 13-year-old while chatting with them on social media has been locked up.

When police seized Stuart Street's iphone on October 12, 2021, 'he suggested, rather weakly, that it might have been hacked,' said Mark Achurch, prosecuting.

Analysis revealed images and videos of girls, aged between eight and 12, along with prohibited drawings of girls engaged in sexual activity.

Nottingham Crown Court heard he took on the persona of a 13-year-old child in online chats and 'expressed the view - whether in character or not - that he would like to have sex with a child'.

On June 19 he sent category A movies and category C images to one user, and between March and October, 2021, he shared 14 items with seven different correspondents.

Matthew Smith, mitigating, said Street, of previous good character, initially denied the charges but changed his pleas in October last year and there was no need for a trial.

"Not only has he lost his good character he has lost his career," he said. "He has had to start again. To his credit he has got a job in the engineering field."

Mr Smith said Street has begun rehabilitation courses with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

"He recognises, albeit at a late stage, the trauma caused by these images," he said. "He has described it as a huge mistake."

Street, aged 26, of Mansfield Road, Edingley, near Southwell, admitted possessing and distributing category A and C images, and possessing prohibited and extreme pornography.

Recorder Stuart Sprawson told him: You engaged with others who had a mutual and similar interest in indecent images.

"You encouraged them to spread them among the community that engages in this type of criminal activity.

But for your arrest your offending may well have continued. Your career as a teacher should have brought into focus the seriousness of you offending.

The judge said that in a pre-sentence report Street denied deriving sexual gratification from the images, but he asked others for their experience and knowledge.

On Thursday, Street received a 17-month prison sentence. He was also made the subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.