A MAN has been jailed after he admitted a string of sexual offences against children.

David Wilding had contacted children aged between 13 and 15 on two occasions pretending to be an 18-year-old girl.

Wilding, 28, of Hogarth Court, Sible Hedingham, requested the children send him photos.

He admitted to two counts of inciting a child into sexual activity, one count of making indecent images of children and five counts of distributing indecent images of children when he appeared in court and has now been sentenced for his crimes at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Alexander Taylor-Camara, mitigating, said psychiatric reports showed Wilding was suffering from depression.

He said: “He found himself outside his normal activities on a daily basis and started to descend into a degree of depression. It doesn’t excuse it but it puts it into some context as he had been grappling with his sexuality for some time.

“It’s more significant he accepted and acknowledged he had a problem and it needed to be addressed, and he has been seeking assistance.

“He is somebody who does have a positive side to his character, whilst the offences are serious in themselves they were over a fairly limited period of time.”

Wilding was sentenced to a total of 18 months imprisonment for the offences.

Judge Patricia Lynch said: “You were not just downloading.

“You contacted children, you asked children to pose for you, you possessed images of children posing and you distributed images of children posing.

“Any adult male who indulges in that sort of behaviour with children pays the price.

“The difficulty we have with child pornography is that people like yourself forget that these are real children.”

The judge also issued a sexual harm prevention order.

She said she had taken into account the fact the offending was over a short period of time and that he had shown remorse.

  •  The convicted man is not David Neil Wilding of Sible Hedingham.