'Sadistic' paedophile blackmailed girls

A judge said Mark Dodds was "highly dangerous" and "sadistic"

A "sadistic" paedophile who blackmailed nine children into sending him sexually explicit images of themselves has been jailed for 20 years.

Mark Dodds, 38, pretended to be a teenager when he befriended and pressured youths as young as nine in the UK and US to perform sex acts on camera.

He threatened to leak the videos to their friends and families if they did not do more, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Dodds, of Spennymoor in County Durham, admitted the bulk of the 60 offences he was accused of and was found guilty of six, including molesting a child.

Police found a stash of 40,000 indecent images of children as young as one when they raided his home.

His first victim was a 13-year-old girl in the UK who he messaged on Snapchat in 2019 while pretending to be a 15-year-old boy, prosecutor Paul Cleasby said.

Dodds coerced her into sending an indecent picture of herself, then threatened to send it to her friends unless the girl performed sex acts on video calls to him, the court heard.

'Controlling and manipulative'

When her mother discovered the messages and told Dodds to leave her daughter alone, Dodds mocked and threatened her before sending the videos to "hundreds" of children in the area where she lived, the court heard.

He repeated his actions against at least eight other girls, including some in America who were just nine years old, and used pictures of previous victims to make the girls think he was also a child.

Dodds would pretend to be their boyfriend and threatened to kill himself if they did not respond to his messages, Mr Cleasby said, adding Dodds was "controlling" and "emotionally manipulative".

He ignored the children's pleas to stop and demanded they perform increasingly invasive sex acts, the court was told.

Anyone who said no to him was warned the images of them would "go everywhere" and he carried out the threat on multiple occasions, sending the videos and pictures to the victims' friends and families.

The paedophile "sought sexual pleasure from causing pain to children", Mr Cleabsy said.

Threat to kill

The mother of one victim said Dodds had "destroyed" the girl's life, adding her once "bubbly" and sociable daughter now had "crippling anxiety" and could no longer bear to leave the house.

He sent the online details of one girl to other men who then contacted her, causing more distress, the court heard.

He also threatened to burn her house down and kill her family if she did not carry on talking to him.

Much of the offending was carried out after he had been arrested and released under investigation for earlier offences, the court heard.

When he was first arrested at his home on Heather Grove in August 2020, Dodds hid behind the front door before eventually letting police in.

Devices including a mobile phone, tablet and laptop were seized but the investigation was delayed because Dodds refused to give detectives his access passwords, the court heard.

At the time he was arrested again, in November 2023, he was live streaming indecent images of children and forcefully tried to stop officers entering his home, the jury was told.

'Breathtaking arrogance'

He had denied several offences, including filming himself sexually assaulting a girl, but jurors found him guilty after just 11 minutes deliberation.

The victim in that case said Dodds made her feel as if she did not belong in the world.

Dodds' offences included blackmail and multiple counts of causing the sexual exploitation of a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Recorder Thomas Moran said Dodds had shown "breathtaking arrogance" and his actions were "cunning" and "outrageous".

The "highly dangerous" Dodds presented himself as a "self-obsessed and self-pitying individual", the judge said.

Recorder Moran said among the "striking and shocking" offences was one girl who Dodds abused after she confided in him about the recent death of her parent, including on Christmas Eve which should have been "an exciting and special day for any child".

The judge said chat logs between Dodds and his victims made for "truly disgusting reading" and there was the "sadistic element" of the paedophile wanting to see the children in pain as they performed sexual acts.

He said the psychological harm caused to the victims was significant and might not become apparent until later in their lives.

In addition to his jail term Dodds must serve a further six years on extended licence, was made subject of a sexual harm prevention order to last indefinitely and must sign the sex offenders register until further notice.