Man who performed online sex acts in front of children jailed

James Dyson, 26, has been jailed for five years

A man who performed online sex acts in front of children has been jailed.

James Dyson was also found to have downloaded thousands of child sexual abuse images over a seven-and-a-half year period.

The 26-year-old, of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, was caught in January 2023 when evidence of his crimes was found on his work mobile phone.

He was jailed for five years and given a sexual harm prevention order at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday.

During an investigation by Nottinghamshire Police, forensic analysis of several other electronic devices found thousands of indecent images of children - many of which Dyson had tried and failed to delete.

Nearly 6,000 of the images were found to be Category A - depicting the most serious sexual abuse that can be committed against children.

Dyson was also added to the sex offenders register for life

Dyson pleaded guilty at a hearing in December, to four charges of arranging or facilitating a child sex offence and two counts of possessing extreme pornographic images.

He also admitted three charges of making indecent images of a child and three charges of distributing indecent photographs of a child.

Detectives also uncovered evidence of four occasions in which Dyson used a social media platform to engage children in online sexual activity, the force said.

Work is currently ongoing to identify the four children involved.

Det Con Tom Nuttall said: "The physical and emotional impact of that kind of abuse cannot be understated, and people like Dyson are contributing directly to that harm.

"It is very clear that he knew what he was doing was wrong and also that he went to great lengths to try and delete evidence of his crimes."