Ilkeston: Sex offender who tried to enrol in school jailed
- Published
Anthony Lonsdale, 21, sent indecent pictures to a girl in Derbyshire as well as two in Nottinghamshire
A 21-year-old man has been jailed for sending sexual pictures to three girls and "trying to enrol in a school".
Anthony Lonsdale was arrested in March 2022 after he was found posing as a 14-year-old and tried to enrol at a school in the Ilkeston area, police said.
He sent indecent pictures and messages to a girl in Derbyshire as well as two in Nottinghamshire.
Lonsdale, of Uxendon Crescent, Wembley, was jailed for seven years at Nottingham Crown Court on 19 January.
Derbyshire Constabulary said Lonsdale, who was 20 at the time, turned up dressed in a school uniform, having attempted to meet up with a teenaged girl he had been messaging on social media there.
He set up fake profiles on a number of different social platforms, including Snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp, initially posing as a teenage girl called Tia, the force said.
He chatted to the girl and encouraged her to add another fake profile - Tia's 12-year-old brother Sam.
Over several weeks he messaged the girl, eventually sending her sexually explicit photos.
'Intolerable'
Following further investigation, officers were able to identify two other girls from the Nottinghamshire area who Lonsdale had been contacting under different false names.
Lonsdale pleaded guilty to grooming, sexual communication and making indecent photos.
He was jailed for seven years, with three further years on extended licence.
Det Sgt Sophie Draycott of the Child Exploitation Investigation Unit said: "The lengths to which Lonsdale went to by creating several fake personas on social media, to build trust with the victims and even attempting to enrol at the same school as one of the teenagers is unbelievable.
"Behaviour such as this is intolerable, and I would like to recognise the courage of the young girls who worked with us as part of our investigation.
"As a result, Lonsdale is now facing the consequences of his actions."
Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, external, Twitter, external, or Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk, external.