A man who posed as a young boy to ask a nine-year-old girl to send nude pictures has been jailed.
Joshua Wilson of Alice Close, Bedworth, pretended to be a 12-year-old boy when he approached the girl, from Gwent, Wales, in 2024.
The 27-year-old was reported by the family of the girl, who spotted the messages on her phone.
Wilson was jailed for four years at Warwick Crown Court on 7 March.
After he was reported by the girl’s parents, detectives found evidence on his phone of sexual conversations with other young girls.
They found indecent photos and videos of children, some of whom were believed to be as young as five or six.
Wilson was charged and later pleaded guilty to attempting to cause a child to look at an image of sexual activity, causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity, two counts of engaging in sexual communications with a child and three counts of making an indecent image of children.
Det Sgt Dave Moorman from Warwickshire Police’s Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team (OCSET), said: “The parents of the nine-year-old girl from Gwent were fortunately vigilant and monitored their child’s use of the phone.
“This is how they spotted the messages shared with Wilson.
“Predatory paedophiles such as Wilson will go to great lengths to befriend and exploit young children.
“By working together and being vigilant we can make it as difficult as possible for them,” he said.
