Wakefield paedophile caught trading horrific child-abuse images over Snapchat
A paedophile was caught when Snapchat informed police that horrific images of children being raped were being shared over the platform.
Police attended the address of James Griffiths in Wakefield to arrest him in 2021 and seized two iPhones, on which they found a raft of sickening criminality.
The 29-year-old not only shared images - some of which were Category A which depict the rape of youngsters - but he had also been in contact with supposed children and had requested explicit photographs from them.
At Leeds Crown Court Griffiths admitted three counts of possessing indecent images - a total of 59 classed as Category A,B and C - three counts of distributing images of A,B and C and three counts of attempting sexual communication with a child.
The children depicted in the images were as young as four, the court heard.
Prosecutor Lydia Pearce said Snapchat informed West Yorkshire Police about the uploaded images and they were able to locate his home address. Arresting him on November 9, 2021, they found that he had been engaging in conversation with other perverts and traded abuse videos and images between December 2020 and May 2021. He had used Snapchat and Kik messenger.
Officers found 21 Category A images and videos on the devices, 19 Category B and 19 Category C. In addition, he had been speaking with three underage girls, “pestering” one for pics and asking another for photos of her breasts. Although one said she was 13, none of the victims have been traced so it was never confirmed if they were genuine.
Griffiths, of Denby Dale Road West, Calder Grove, had two police interviews. He denied all wrongdoing during the first, then confessed during the second, blaming his cocaine and alcohol use that sent him to a “dark side of the world”.
He told officers he would face the consequences of his actions. He has only one previous conviction for a motoring offence. No mitigation was offered by his barrister after Judge Kate Rayfield said she would suspend his sentence.
She said that those who distribute such images can expect to go immediately into custody, but pointed to the relatively low number of images recovered, his lack of previous convictions, his frank admissions in interview and his “desire to be helped”.
She also pointed to the delay in bringing the matter to court, with some of the offences dating back almost four years.
Griffiths was handed a two-year jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, ordered to enrol on a sex-offender programme and given 55 rehabilitation days with probation. He was also put on the sex offender register for 10 years, and given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to limit his internet use.