Paedophile 'shared abuse images for retweets'

Liam Nolan was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court

A paedophile told police he shared indecent images of children on social media to "gain followers", a court has heard.

Liam Nolan, 20, was found with 550 pictures and videos of children as young as six on his mobile phone, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

He was caught after sharing an indecent image on X, formerly known as Twitter, and later told detectives he did it to get retweets, prosecutors said.

He was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years after admitting three counts of making indecent images of children.

The court heard police were notified about an X account uploading indecent images of children in December 2022 and immediately traced it to Nolan, of Richmond Grove in North Shields.

His phone and access to an online storage system were seized and officers found hundreds of images, including 19 pictures and 102 videos in the most serious category which he had downloaded since January 2022.

Children in the images were aged between six and 14 and some were in "discernible pain and distress", prosecutor Annelise Haugstad said.

Detectives also found chats he had had with someone called "Bob" who was offering to sell him further videos.

'Real children'

In his police interview, Nolan denied having a sexual interest in children and claimed he did not seek out the material but "may have retweeted it to gain more followers", Ms Haugstad said.

Judge Nathan Adams said there was "simply no place" for the images Nolan had and the people who engaged in the "horrible conduct" of making them did so for people like Nolan to see.

"This is not fantasy or television," the judge told Nolan, adding: "These are real children and these are images and videos of what has really happened to them."

The judge said Nolan claimed he had sought violent videos out of "boredom" and then "turned a corner" into child abuse.

"You deny having any sexual interest in children but it is quite clear to me there is an issue there that needs to be addressed," Judge Adams said.

He said Nolan would be better dealt with by "intensive intervention" by the probation service rather than immediate imprisonment, and there was a "realistic prospect of rehabilitation".

Nolan must sign the sex offenders register for five years and was made subject of a sexual harm prevention order to strictly limit and monitor his use of the internet.

That includes making sure police are notified of any new internet-capable device he gets, presenting it for inspection and not deleting any of his online history.