Robson, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to possession of 108 extreme pornographic images involving animals, 105 prohibited images of a child (which were computer-generated), four category B pictures and five category C images.

He was given a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

The court heard images contained children ranging in age from three to 13.

A warrant for Robson’s arrest was executed in March 2018, with Judge Michael Gledhill QC asking why the case had taken so long to get to this point.

It was not until March 2019 that the images were viewed for classification.

Judge Gledhill said: “Why there was this gap, I have no idea – whether it was utter negligence or lack of resources, but it is unacceptable.

“It has to be said to your credit, you admitted what you had done.

“Towards the latter part of your life, you have had an extremely unhealthy relationship with child pornography.

“What officers found was utter filth.

“You appear to be a normal character, but in fact you were a Jekyll and Hyde character.”

In the online chats, with what was really undercover officers, he sent obscene photos to two girls ‘Nina’ and ‘Chloe’.

Outlining the case today, prosecutor Henrietta Paget said that using his online name ‘submissivedave29’, Appleton engaged in a conversation with ‘Nina’ where he talked about sex and asked her to send a photo of her private body parts despite her telling him that she was 12.

When talking to ‘Chloe’ online, Appleton encouraged her to perform a sex act despite her telling him she was also 12 years old.

When he communicated with ‘Paige’ online, he told her that he would teach her about sex, persuaded her to perform a sex act and told her she was ‘sexy’.

She told him that she was 11 years old.

A child online safety team went to Appleton’s address and he was arrested.

His mobile phone was seized and photos on the device matched images that were sent to the decoys.

He pleaded guilty on November 26, 2020 to attempting to incite a child under 13 years old to engage in sexual activity and attempting to engage in sexual activity by penetration of a child.

At his sentencing at Oxford Crown Court, Judge Nigel Daly said to Appleton: “The internet can be useful, but it can also be used for abuse.

“You were attempting to communicate for your own sexual practices. You knew that you intended to contact young girls.”

The court ruled that although no sex act occurred and no harm was caused because of the fact that the girls were not real, intention had to be considered.

However, Judge Daly said he displayed ‘grooming behaviour’.

Ms McIntyre told the court that Appleton was born in Oxford and works as a bricklayer.

She said he has two children with his partner and pays for their upkeep, and going to prison will mean he will not receive any income to support his family who have had to use foodbanks and have been struggling in lockdown.

She added that Appleton was ‘tearful, full of regret and fully aware of the seriousness of what he’s done’ and that he is a ‘man who has very little support from anyone’.

Ms McIntyre said he had been assessed as ‘medium risk’ to harm children and that the risk could be managed in the community through ‘intensive intervention’.

On a night in April of last year, Reid, who was sleeping rough in Banbury, met and befriended two teenage girls and a teenage boy in the town.

He gave them alcohol and when one of his victims became intoxicated, Reid took her away from the group and sexually assaulted her.

One of the victim’s friends called police and Reid was found and arrested.

The victim suffered both psychological and physical injuries as a result of the assault.

He was jailed for a total of five years.

The 74-year-old had been convicted of three counts of indecent assault, indecency with a child and attempted rape of a child under the age of 13 on January 12.

At his sentencing, a statement from his victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was read out to court by prosecutor Ian Hope who said she felt as if she had been ‘completely deprived of being an innocent child’.

She now suffers with anxiety and feel like ‘everybody looking at her thinks something is wrong with her’.

But, she said, ‘for the first time in a long time’ she slept ‘properly through the night’ knowing justice had been done.

Sentencing Judge Maria Lamb said he had been to the victim’s house as a friend of her parents and played ‘hide-and-seek’ with her away from everybody else.

She said: “She was between four and nine-years-old and you, a man in his late 40s.

“She was so young that it wasn’t until she had a sex education lesson at school that she realised something was wrong.

“Nobody thought to query the game of hide and seek you played with her.

“What you did made her uncomfortable and frightened. You told her she would be in trouble if she cried.”

She said that his attacks culminated in attempted rape and had it not been for physical injuries he ‘would have achieved’ rape.

She said: “The fact that you had not pressed on, that you realised you risked damaging her and that could not be concealed.  

“I am quite clear in reading what I have read and heard that she feels like something is wrong with her.”

She said there had been some ‘aggravating factors’ when she was considering how long he would spend in prison, like him telling her not to tell anybody.

He was sentenced to 11 years in prison with another year on licence.

He will need to spend five and a half years in prison before he is considered for parole and will be made subject of a sexual offender protection order for the rest of his life.