Man posed as teen to trick girls

A jobless 43-year-old Broadstairs man posed as a teenager to lure young girls into sending him sex photographs.

But a court heard Nigel Jackson’s victims are still oblivious to the fact they were duped by the predator, because police failed to inform them.

Jackson, calling himself Neil Johnson, claimed he was a 17-year-old and used an old photograph of himself on Facebook.

He contacted upwards of 80 children using messaging apps including WhatsApp, Snagit and Skype.

Amazingly, even though Jackson has been jailed for 40 months, neither his victims nor their parents had been told of his arrest.

Judge Heather Norton heard although Kent Police alerted other forces of possible victims, it is believed none of the youngsters have been contacted.

The judge asked: “Has anyone done anything to safeguard them? Anyone looking after them, making sure they are aware of the dangers? No one has done anything? Seriously?”

Jackson, who is 45, and lives with his mum, pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including inciting a child into pornography and sexual activity and possessing illegal images from the internet.

He said he started his fantasy world because he was bored, lonely and isolated.

Prosecutor Tim Devlin told Canterbury Crown Court the Child Exploitation Investigation Team tracked the owner of the Facebook account to Thanet and found the 43-year-old.

Mr Devlin said in a more sinister twist, officers discovered he had been searching for hotels near one of his victims in the North East of England.