Blackburn man sent sexual images and videos on Facebook

Daniel Johnson, from Blackburn, was actually messaging decoys from two different paedophile hunter groups who reported his actions to the police.

One of the groups, called Stop UK, informed police they were going to attend Johnson’s home on June 25 last year, and police attended alongside them.

Alison Mather, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said as part of a file handed over to the police by Stop UK, one of the women from the group outlined that they had two decoy personas, both 12-year-old girls named Rosie and Kelsey.

Daniel Johnson (Image: Lancashire Police) She said the defendant, 50, first made contact with Rosie on June 9, adding her as a friend on Facebook and messaging her saying ‘hi’.

He was told Rosie was 12 but continued the conversation, which quickly became sexualised.

Johnson asked for naked photos of the girl and sent pictures of his penis as well as a video over three minutes long of himself.

The following day he added Kelsey’s account and went in with the same message.

Again, he was told she was 12 but continued the chat which became sexualised, and he mentioned several times that he was naked.

When he was arrested, he made admissions that he had indecent images saved on his phone – one category A image, one category B image, and five category C images.

On June 13, officers were contacted by the police force in North Wales, who said they had been approached by another paedophile hunter group about Johnson contacting one of their decoy accounts.

Johnson told that decoy, a 14-year-old girl called Mercy, that he “loved girls in school uniform” and that he “bet she looked sexy in underwear.”

He also encouraged her to perform sexual activity and sent her several sexual GIFs.

Johnson also had similar contact with another decoy called Molly, 14, who he engaged in sexual conversations with.

Harriet Lavin, mitigating for Johnson, said he had suffered from depression since childhood and never sought access to mental health support.

She said he used Facebook and social media as a way to speak to people when he was feeling lonely or isolated.

It was also said he had shown some remorse in his pre-sentence report, describing his actions as “the worst thing I’ve ever done” and that he felt “sickened.”

Johnson, of Leamington Road, pleaded guilty to five counts of attempted sexual communication with a child, three counts of making indecent images, two counts of attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity and one count of attempt to cause/incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

Preston Crown Court (Image: Archive) He had no previous convictions.

Judge Michael Maher, sentencing, said: “The offences concern your online behaviour with people you believed to be children under 16.

“In fact, they were volunteers of paedophile hunter groups masquerading as children.

“All of the conversations are deeply unsavoury.

“Though these children did not exist, your interest in children is manifestly clear.”

Judge Maher sentenced Johnson to four years in prison and imposed sex offender notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely.