A pervert snared by paedophile hunters has avoided jail despite trying to entice a fake child into sexual acts.


A pervert snared by paedophile hunters has avoided jail despite trying to entice a fake child into sexual acts.

Brett Weldon, 23, of no fixed address but originally from Sheffield escaped with a community order designed to change his behaviour when he appeared at Basildon Crown Court. He was arrested in March 2017 after he took his laptop to a second hand electronics shop and staff found hundreds of indecent images of children on the laptop. The images included children being sexually abused and animal pornography.

Phillipa Page, prosecuting, said: “While under investigation he engaged with a member of a group trying to identify paedophiles.
“A fake profile was set up.
“In July Weldon requested to be friends and started messaging what he thought was a 12-year-old girl.
“He sent pictures and videos of himself carrying out sexual acts.
“He was identified by members of the paedophile hunting team ‘Shadow Hunters UK’ who called police.
”Welldon also called Essex Police to confess.

Judge Ian Graham sentenced Welldon on Friday after he appeared at Basildon Crown Court via video link from Chelmsford Prison. Speaking of the indecent images found on Weldon’s laptop Judge Graham said: “These are serious matters not just because of the disgusting material but these are images of real children being abused, it’s not just fantasy.
”He received a three year community order with 250 hours unpaid work and must attend a sex offender programme.
He will be a registered sex offender for five years