A pervert who posted explicit photos of his underage internet girlfriend on Facebook after she tried to break up with him has avoided jail.
Nerdy Sebastian Bickerton-King, 23, kept the naked snaps of the 15-year-old girl in a folder on his computer called “My Slut”.
A court heard he set up an account on Facebook in a fake name before sharing the images with the victims 500 friends – including her mum and brother.
He carried out his threat after the teenager, who cannot be named, tried to end their virtual relationship in February last year.
On Thursday (21/7) Bickerton-King pleaded guilty to one count of inciting a child to engage in pornography, three counts of making indecent images, one of possessing indecent images and three of distributing indecent images of a child.
But he escaped an immediate jail term after a judge heard how his life “revolved around the internet” and that he always believed the girl was aged 16.
Judge Jonathan Bennett sentenced him to 12-months in prison, suspended for two years at Derby Crown Court.
He also ordered him to enrol in a three-year sex offenders’ treatment programme and a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
Sentencing, Judge Bennett said: “Getting young people involved in pornography is a disturbing image and this case is another example of the dark side of the internet.
“The victim was 15 but I accept you believed she was 16 and when she wanted to halt your relationship you tried to blackmail her saying ‘if you don’t carry this on I will distribute the photographs’.
“I have read a psychological report on you and without going into the details it shows me that for many years you had difficulty socially and in many ways you live in isolation and spend most of your time on the internet.”
In a victim impact statement, which was read out in court, the teenager, who lives in Wales, said: “Since the incident I have been left very depressed each time I talk about what has happened.
“I cry, I feel victimised, I still get horrible comments from people at school who saw the images.
“It has affected my confidence and my school grades are lower than they were which I am concerned about.
“I had to seek counselling.”
Prosecutor Sarah Allen said Bickerton-King, of Willington, Derbs., started the online relationship with the girl in early 2015 when he sent her a friend request.
She told him she was 16 and within a short while they had started swapping naked and explicit images of the most serious category.
Miss Allen said: “By February 21, 2015, it was apparent she was becoming reluctant to send him any more.
“She began to question why she had trusted him, she felt he was blackmailing her, she sent him a text message saying she would kill herself if he showed the photographs to her friends.”
Miss Allen said in the early hours of the following morning, Bickerton-King sent her a message saying ‘I suggest you unblock me (from Facebook) if you don’t want me to send them (the explicit photographs).
“When she unblocked him he sent a further message saying ‘if you try to do that again I won’t hesitate to send them.”
On February 23, Bickerton-King set up the fake Facebook account under then name of Randy Marsh and sent photos of the girl to her Facebook contacts list.
He was arrested and his mobile phones, a computer and a tablet were seized.
On the devices the police found 29 movies of Category A, the most serious, 11 category B movies and five category C movies.
Caroline Bradley, defending, said: “The defendant had engrossed himself in the internet environment.
“In his own mind he was in love with the girl and he thought she was in love with him.
“He felt hugely rejected when she ended their relationship.
“She was vulnerable and so was he.”
