A PERVERT made hundreds of indecent photographs of children and sexually communicated with who he believed was an American schoolgirl, a court heard.

Kainen Joughin-Griffiths, 20, was found to be in possession of a ‘high number of images’ when police seized four devices from his home on November 25 2021, prosecutor Rachael Woods said.

Preston Crown Court heard Joughin-Griffiths made 502 category A images of children, the worst of its kind, 233 category B images and a further 103 category C images over a seven-month period in 2021.

Upon further examination and analysis of his mobile phone, Joughin-Griffiths was also found to be in possession of 257 extreme pornographic images, as well as a prohibited image of a child.

Ms Woods said the defendant used the Kik, Telegram and WhatsApp applications to engage in sexual communications with who he believed was a 14-year-old girl, who investigators traced through a phone number to live in the USA.

The court heard the defendant, of Woodbine Lane in Newton-in-Furness near Barrow, began communicating with the victim, who was unable to be fully identified, on April 19 2021 when he was 17-years-old.

Ms Woods said the contact lasted until September 5 2021, which came after the defendant had turned 18.

She said the defendant sent the user images of his genitals on three occasions, two of which were before his 18th birthday.

There were a number of other messages sent between the defendant and the other user, the court was told.

Ms Woods said that Joughin-Griffiths also distributed a category A and category B video of a child to the user in May 2021.

During the seven-month indictment period, he asked the user to send pictures of her breasts on more than one occasion and to send a video of her playing with them on another, the court was told.

The court heard the defendant made open admissions to police about his offending.

He told them he became curious in relation to children and that he then obtained and created images to put into his own personal galleries, the court was told.

Holly Nelson, defending, said the offences demonstrated a lack of maturity.

She said: “The offences were committed during the second lockdown. He was spending every working hour inside and that led to a reliance on electronic devices. His use of adult pornography increased and he went into assessing material he should not have.

“He expresses bitter remorse for his actions. He is a man of good character and has committed no further offences.

“He has a glowing probation report and is currently in full-time employment with accommodation provided.”

Sentencing the defendant to a three-year community order, Recorder Michelle Brown said: “It is not possible to know the harm you caused in engaging in sexual communications with a child.

“It is also impossible to know what harm each child went through. However, they are real children and they were abused for your own sexual gratification.”

As a result of the community order, Joughin-Griffiths was required to complete 25 RAR days, 150 hours of unpaid work and to undertake an accredited sex offenders program.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for five years and notification requirements for five years.