A PERVERT who sent sexually explicit messages to dozens of teenagers, urging them to engage in sexual activity was caught out in a chat room police sting.

Martin Lahiff, 26, targeted an undercover cop, believing he was talking to a 13-year-old girl.

The sex offender asked the ‘youngster’ if her grandma would let her stay out overnight so she could spend time with him.

He sent her pictures of himself performing a sex act and asked her to send pictures of herself, telling her: “I won’t tell anyone.”

But his lewd talk led officers to his stash of indecent images and sexualised conversations with underage girls.

On October 28 last year, officers from Cumbria Constabulary raided Lahiff’s home in Storey Square, Barrow, and seized his computer equipment.

Forensic examination revealed 1,102 chat threads, hundreds of which were sexually explicit.

Officers identified 32 children who had been involved in the sexual chat with Lahiff, ranging from 12 to 15 years old.

Lahiff, who has previous convictions for making indecent images of a child, pleaded guilty to five counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, Five counts of causing a child to view an image of sexual activity, three counts of making indecent photographs of a child and possession of extreme pornographic images.

Judge James Adkin, sentencing at Preston Crown Court, said: “What you did was to incite these individuals to masturbate. You sent them sexual images and you collected these images of children that they sent back, sometimes sending them to the next victim and distributing these images.

“Some of the conversations you had with these children were immensely depraved.

“You have previously been involved in court proceedings concerning making indecent photographs.

“You used a misleading alias concerning your age in some of these cases, in order to manipulate children with whom you were corresponding.

“In the summer of 2016 you quickly moved these conversations towards intense, graphic, sexualised conversations with young children.

“You do present a relevant risk.”

The judge said Lahiff was a dangerous offender and made an extended sentence for public protection.

He jailed Lahiff for seven years with a three year extended licence period.

Speaking after the case, Detective Inspector Jenny Beattie, of Cumbria Constabulary’s Digital Media Investigation Unit, said: “Lahiff is a dangerous predator who spent a lot of time committing these sickening child sex offences and has rightly been brought to justice.

“Lahiff chatted to and built the trust of children, as young as 12 years old, in order to get them to perform sexual acts online and shared them with others for his own and their sexual gratification.

“We are working hard every day to proactively target and prosecute those who abuse children. By doing this we are helping protect children in Cumbria.

“We encourage anyone who has any suspicions of any sort of abuse to contact us so we can investigate.”

If you or a member of your family has been the victim of sexual abuse, follow this link to find help and support.