Kettering paedophile sent naked pictures to '13-year-old' - then claimed he was hacked

A paedophile sent lewd pictures of himself to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl - before suggesting he was hacked when he was busted.

Cameron Fox, from Kettering, had no idea he was talking to an undercover police officer when he sent a series of explicit messages online.

He also asked the 'girl' for a picture of her underwear and spoke about how she could perform a sex act on herself.

When the 21-year-old was arrested he accepted that some of the images were his - but claimed somebody else must have sent them.

Yesterday (Thursday) he was spared from prison by a judge after finally admitting his sick behaviour.

Northampton Crown Court heard Fox started communicating with the police decoy in April 2019 on messaging app Kik. He told her he was 18 and said: "Is that okay?"

The 'girl' told him she was 13 and the paedophile turned the conversation sexual.

Prosecuting, Esther Harrison said: "He went on to ask if she had done anything naughty."

Fox went into explicit detail about himself and asked for a picture of her underwear.

By June the conversation moved onto Snapchat. Fox sent a selfie of himself in his bedroom before asking if she wanted to see him exposed and sending a nude picture.

He then sent a video of himself performing a sex act before talking to her about how she could perform a sex act on herself.

The court heard that the following month he asked her if she had done it and sent further lewd files.

Email addresses were exchanged and the IP address linked the activity to Fox's Centre Parade home.

In October 2019 police executed a warrant at the address and seized a phone from his bedroom. He denied sending the chat messages or explicit files when he was interviewed.

Ms Harrison said: "He accepted that he had taken some of these images but said he was not responsible for the chat or sending the images.

"He suggested he had been hacked and someone had sent them on his behalf or in his name."

But his claims of being hacked were easily found to be a lie by police.

They established that some of the images were taken in July at a holiday resort in Cornwall - at the same time as messages said he was in Cornwall. The Snapchat account was found on his phone and messaging showed he was using the account. And some pictures were sent using the in-app camera on Kik and Snapchat, proving he couldn't have been hacked.

He was later charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a girl aged 13 to engage in sexual activity and initially denied it before pleading guilty on the day of his trial last year. The court heard he has no previous convictions but was under investigation at the time of the offending over a separate allegation, which did not lead to a prosecution.

Mitigating, Liam Muir outlined the case for a suspended sentence and said Fox had been honest about his behaviour when interviewed by probation workers.

He said there was a very real prospect of rehabilitation and that the Horizon programme - an intervention for sex offenders - changes lives.

He said: "He is willing to say he needs help."

The court heard sentencing guidelines gave the punishment for Fox's behaviour a starting point of three years in prison with a range of between two and six.

Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane reduced his sentence from the starting point and said she had taken into account his mitigation, guilty plea and that there was no real child involved.

She said his actions were so serious that they crossed the custody threshold - but decided to give him another chance by suspending the prison sentence.

She told him: "It's clear that you now express genuine remorse."

Fox was jailed for 20 months, suspended for 24 months, and must take part in the Horizon programme and complete rehabilitation work.

He will be on the register for sex offenders for ten years, subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order restricting his contact with female children and barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.