‘Dangerous’ paedophile locked up for 21 years
A ‘COMMITTED paedophile’ who tried to blame an innocent man after being caught watching a video of a man assaulting a baby has been locked up for more than 20 years.
A judge said Damen Scott, 34, had shown a ‘complete lack of insight’ into his crimes, and he still maintains his innocence.
He was jailed for 21 years, and ordered to serve an extra five years on licence as part of an extended sentence, after Scott was declared ‘dangerous.’
“The reality is that you are a committed paedophile,” Judge Anthony Cross QC told Scott.
“You seek out others to commit offences of the most serious gravity.”
Manchester Crown Court heard that Scott posed online using various aliases to further his interest in sick child abuse images. Some of the ‘appallingly explicit’ conversations were traced to his IP address at his home in Little Hulton, Salford.
When the case reached the courts, Scott tried to blame a man he had been in a brief relationship with, after they had met on Tinder.
“You in a devious way invented a wholly lying account of a relationship,” Judge Cross said.
“But the jury saw through your lies and you were convicted.”
The jury was excused from ever having to serve again due to the harrowing nature of the case.
Scott had sent and received images, including an image from a paedophile in the West Midlands, who sent him a video of him assaulting a baby. He sent messages back approving of the vile act, and sent further messages to encourage the paedophile to carry out another rape.
The criminal who attacked the baby was jailed for 24 years for his crimes following a separate court case. Judge Cross said there was ‘no distinction to be made of any real sort’ between the pair, as Scott had a ‘virtual presence’ when the ‘heinous acts’ were committed.
Scott, of Ashawe Terrace, Little Hulton, was found guilty of 10 offences at a trial, namely five counts of distributing indecent images of children; two counts of encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable offence; and three counts of making an indecent image of a child.
He had pleaded guilty to a further seven offences before the trial.
These were three counts of making indecent images of children, three counts of possessing indecent images of children and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.
“It is that sort of behaviour on your part, that sort of conduct from which the public must be protected for a very long time,” said Judge Cross.
After the hearing, an NSPCC spokesman said: “By directing the monsters he met online to carry out unthinkable abuse of young victims for his own pleasure, Scott has shown he is a serious danger to children.”