A former firefighter who paid children to send him naked pictures and sent an image of himself wearing his uniform to one victim has been jailed.
Robert Stevenson, 31, would trawl social media sites and message young girls, offering them money to send the explicit images.
He was reported to the police when one of his victims, who was aged 15, said he had threatened to post an image of her online, after initially contacting her on Instagram.
Stevenson had messaged the teenager asking if she wanted to make £100, before the conversation later moved to Snapchat, with him telling her that he was 17 years old.
He was arrested and his devices seized, with a police investigation uncovering messages to a number of young girls, and analysis of his bank account finding numerous payments.
He was subsequently charged with a number of offences including cause/incite the sexual exploitation of a child aged 13 to 17; cause/incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity and making an indecent photo/pseudo photograph of a child.
After denying the charges, he was found guilty after a trial at Derby Crown Court and has been jailed for seven years. He has also been handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and has been placed on the sex offenders register.
Child sexual exploitation supervisor detective sergeant Sophie Draycott said: “This has been a long investigation which revealed Stevenson has been communicating with children in a sexual manner right across the country.
“His behaviour was appalling and repeated so I am pleased that he has now been brought to justice for his crimes and is serving a prison sentence.
“I’d also like to thank all the victims for their bravery and support throughout the case.
“Now that social media is such a massive part of our society, I’d encourage all parents to please be aware of who their children are communicating with online, urge them to make sure they are not sending any images to anyone and let their children know that if they do receive any unwanted or inappropriate messages they should tell an adult.”
