June 2022

Snapchat paedophile posed as teen sending ‘flirty’ messages to Teesside schoolgirl

A Snapchat paedophile posed as a teenager to carry out his sick “predatory” fantasties.

Stephen Lancaster created six aliases on the online photo sharing social media platform and carried out sexual chats with a Teesside schoolgirl.

The 46-year-old messaged a girl asking ‘can I see your boobs’ during one encounter.

A number of illegal images and videos of children were also found on the Marton man’s iPhone after it was seized by police. Lancaster appeared at Teesside Crown Court for sentencing on Monday.

Prosecutor Robin Turton told how police received information that a Snapchat profile had been assigned to the defendant’s email address. Lancaster was arrested in Middlesbrough in September, last year, and his iPhone seized.

The court heard how his email address was logged into the device and camera roll showed “children in swimsuits”. Upon forensic examination of his phone, officers found six Snapchat aliases with “sexualised” chat history.

One conversation read: ‘Are we going to get naughty’ and another: ‘Can I see your boobs’. Indecent images and videos were also recovered from the device.

Lancaster had two category B files on his phone – one image and one video – and 20 category C images of children. Those offences were committed between June, 2019, and September, last year.

During a police interview, Lancaster admitted possessing indecent images and the Snapchat aliases. During mitigation, Michele Turner told how Lancaster has a “desire to work with agencies” to minimise his offending.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Lancaster has no previous convictions and it is his “first time before a crown court”. Lancaster previously pleaded guilty to causing or inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, namely to expose her breasts and to send an image of them.

Judge Howard Crowson described Lancaster’s crimes as “very serious offending” spanning over a number of years. He stated that the conversations were “flirtatious”, asking a child – who “believed she was taking to a teenager” – to show her breasts.

Judge Crowson added that Lancaster “posed as a teenager” under false accounts to fulfil his “sexual interest in girls”. Lancaster was “persistent” and “predatory” in his offending.

He was jailed for two years and four months for inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity. Judge Crowson also imposed concurrent prison sentences for the indecent images.

Lancaster, of Birchwood Road, Marton, will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order and notification requirements for 10 years.