‘Dangerous’ West Bromwich man, 21, jailed for making almost a thousand of indecent photos of children
A man from West Bromwich has been jailed after making hundreds of indecent photographs of children and having sexualised online conversations with children.
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Daniel Bennett, aged 21 admitted to 19 charges of sexual offences which included making indecent photographs of children, engaging in sexual communication with a child, threatening to disclose private sexual photographs and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
Last Thursday, he was jailed for nine years and four months at Wolverhampton Crown Court and has been placed on the sex offender register for life.
Officers from the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team received intelligence that a social media account had made sexualised comments to another user who was 14 years old.
West Midlands Police officers traced the IP address back to an address in West Bromwich, which is where Bennett was living at the time.
Bennett’s electronic devices were seized for forensic examination and following enquiries, we identified four victims.
Nearly 1,000 indecent image of children found on Daniel Bennett’s devices
Police said they found nearly a thousand indecent images of children on his devices.
Using social media, he told young girls he was 16 years old and, on some occasions, organised to meet up with the girls.
Bennett, of Ferndale, South Wales, blackmailed one of the girls into sending more explicit images of herself in fear their conversations would be made public.
DC Waqass Choudhry from the WMP Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team, said: “This investigation was complex and hugely challenging.
“Bennett is a dangerous offender and I would like to thank all the families and the victims who came forward. Their bravery and tenacity has led to him being imprisoned for a lengthy amount of time.
“His depravity and flagrant disregard for the victims, some of them as young as 12, knew no bounds.”
We believe Bennett also targeted more children and we are urging other victims to come forward.
If you have any information please email C_division_CEIT@westmidlands.police.uk.
Alternatively, call 101 or contact us via Live Chat quoting Op Fourteen.
