Paedophile snared by decoy account

A man who shared explicit images with what he thought was a child on social media has been jailed.

Louie Mehmet, 19, contacted the account in October last year, not knowing it was a decoy maintained by an undercover officer.

Despite the “child” telling Mehmet she was only 12 years old and still at school, he proceeded to strike up conversations of a sexual nature and began sharing explicit images of himself.

On arrest Mehmet, of Railway Close, Burwell, Cambridge, admitted to sending the messages and images, but claimed the girl had told him she was 18, not 12.

He later pleaded guilty to attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch / look at an image of sexual activity and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. He was sentenced to eight months in prison at Peterborough Crown Court on Wednesday (24 April).

Detective Constable Zip Lloyd, who investigated, said: “Mehmet is clearly a risk to children and his use of the internet to engage what he thought was a child in sexual conversations was appalling.

“Protecting young people from harm is one of our top priorities and we will do all we can to bring those who use the internet in such a way to justice.”