Man jailed over sibling sex act viral video con

Norton was ordered to serve at least eight years in prison

A man who duped a teenager into performing sex acts on her younger brother on video before sharing it "for the world to see" has been jailed.

Daniel Norton, 26, who posed as a police officer to trick the girl, "plumbed the depths of depravity", a judge said.

Both children were bullied and had to move schools after the footage went viral, Southampton Crown Court heard.

Norton, of Cheadle, Stockport, was jailed for 12 years.

He first persuaded the schoolgirl, from Hampshire, to send him a topless photo before demanding more explicit images.

Norton falsely told the girl his father was a police officer and would take her away from her family if she did not comply, the court heard.

'Utterly devastated'

When she blocked him online, she received a threatening phone call from Norton posing as a police officer.

The footage was shared with the girl's schoolmates and found its way onto services such as Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube.

It was eventually shared nationwide, with police in Northamptonshire, Bristol and Brighton among forces which issued alerts about the "disturbing" images in December.

James Kellam, prosecuting, told the court that, after classmates of the two children saw the video, they were bullied, leading to them having to move school and the family to move house.

Judge Gary Burrell QC said the girl's family had been "utterly devastated" by Norton's actions.

He said Norton had "persuaded and threatened" the girl and put the film on the internet "for the world to see".

"One only hopes that little boy doesn't remember anything when he grows up, the little girl certainly will," he said.

"The whole family has been at a loss at how to deal with it and that has been down to you because you wanted to gratify your own sexual desires."

A Bristol school warned parents to check their children's phones for the video

When Norton was arrested, police found 93 images and videos in his possession, including downloaded material involving children and animals.

He later admitted distributing indecent photos of a child, possessing an extreme pornographic image, three counts of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and three counts of making indecent photos of a child.

Norton, who has no previous convictions, will serve at least eight years in prison with an additional three years on licence, the judge said.

Prisoners are normally considered for probationary release after serving half their sentence.

Det Supt Rachel Farrell from Hampshire Constabulary said online coercion of teenage girls by older men was "commonplace".

"Often perpetrators will pose as children to build up a friendship... and then start asking for pictures that are inappropriate," she said.

"Children are trapped into sending more images and don't know who to talk to."