Andrew Weir 30

Description

An “experienced and fully-fledged” sex offender with an interest in children coerced a boy and a girl to send him intimate pictures of themselves.

In return, Andrew Weir, who had amassed a “nauseating collection” of child abuse images over a period between 2016 and 2021, made them watch him perform sex acts online.

Teesside Crown Court heard he used online threats to persuade the 14-year-old boy, believed to be from Thailand, to perform a sex act on himself, and applied “persistent pressure” to illicit images of the 13-year-old girl exposing her breasts and of her genital area.

The 30-year-old defendant, from Darlington, admitted charges arising from the online exchanges with the boy and the collection of images, but was convicted at trial, earlier this year, of the offences involving the girl, which took place in 2022.

Weir was aged 22 when he contacted the boy who is now untraceable, but thought to be from Thailand, via Skype, between May and August 2016.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said the defendant, purporting to be aged 15, soon turned the chat to sexual matters and, in trying to illicit intimate images of the boy, threatened to "hack" his phone if he did not follow his request.

Mr Newcombe said over the following five years Weir amassed dozens of indecent images and videos of children, many in the most serious category.

It was in May 2022 when he befriended a 13-year-old girl online and began pressuring her to send him pictures of herself.

Following his "persistent and increasingly intimidating" demands, she responded by sending two images of her private parts.

But Weir was arrested after her parents discovered the messages.

He was convicted at trial in January of causing/inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and causing a child to watch an image of sexual activity, having claimed he was unaware the girl was only aged 13.

Weir, of Brignall Moor Crescent, admitted attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity, ten counts of making indecent photos of a child and one of possession of extreme pornography, at the court in September last year.

Tony Davis, for Weir, said the defendant led an "isolated" existence with his life revolving around making relationships online.

Mr Davis said this would be the defendant’s first prison sentence, having spent two months in custody since his conviction at trial.

Judge Tom Mitchell told Weir he was a younger man at the time of the initial offences, but by the time of the 2022 allegations involving the 13-year-old girl he was, “an experienced and fully-fledged sex offender”, having acquired his, “nauseating collection” of indecent images over a five-year period.

The judge said Weir used “grooming behaviour”, “exploitation” and “persistent pressure” to obtain the images he demanded from his victims, causing, “real harm” in the process.

He imposed a total prison sentence of 78 months (six-and-a-half years) on the defendant, of which he must serve two-thirds behind bars, and made him subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Its terms include restricting his future online activities, and forbid him from ever communicating via the Internet with anyone aged under 18.

He was also made subject to lifetime registration and notification as a sex offender and placed on the barring list to prevent him working with children or vulnerable people in future.

A restraining order was put in place to prohibit him from contacting or approaching the girl who was subject to the 2022 offences, “until further order”.

The judge told Weir his time in prison, with the monitoring and support of professionals, could change him for the better.

But he warned the defendant that if he returned to his previous online activities, the sentence he is likely to receive would be measured, “in decades”.