February 2019 Hartlepool pervert spared jail after forcing underage girl A man who persuaded a underage girl to send him naked pictures of herself over the internet has narrowly avoided jail. Dillon King from Hartlepool was 23 when he chatted up the underage girl on the photo sharing social media platform Snapchat, Teesside Crown Court heard. Using various aliases, he told her he was an 18-year-old college student and got her to send him a number of pictures of herself in her underwear and various states of undress. In one online exchange, they arranged to meet up in Hartlepool when King, now 24, suggested possible sexual activity but she refused. Police were led to him in October 2017 when he uploaded an indecent picture of another child to the website Tumblr. They discovered 70 pictures on his mobile phone of the girl he had been messaging on Snapchat, including 15 that were indecent, and three short videos. Barrister Harry Hadfield, prosecuting, said King and the victim began chatting after she accepted his Snapchat friend request. In one selfie picture of herself found on the phone she included the caption ‘do you not mind the fact that I’m 14?’. Mr Hadfield said: “There were other images of this female complainant on the phone. “The police by looking at the school uniform were able to trace [the victim] and her mother and discovered that she was a 14-year-old schoolgirl.” Mr Hadfield added: “If she didn’t send photographs across to him he would stop speaking to her. “He would ask her to remove her her clothes and underwear and she said she felt pressured to send him indecent images of herself.” King, of Catcote Road, Hartlepool, also sent the girl indecent pictures of himself to her. He pleaded guilty to offences of causing child sexual exploitation, possessing 18 indecent photographs of a child, and distributing an indecent image of a child, all between June and October 2017.  King was given 20 months prison suspended for two years and ordered to undergo a sexual offender treatment programme. Judge Peter Armstrong said he had been saved from immediate prison by his previous good record and caring role. He told King: “What you need is assistance with your distorted thinking that it’s alright to behave like this.” January 2019 Pervert warned of prison sentence after encouraging underage girl to send indecent images of herself A man is facing a possible prison sentence after he admitted inciting an underage girl to get involved in indecent images Dillon King, 24, pleaded guilty to a charge of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography at Teesside Crown Court. It was alleged he caused the underage girl to be involved in pornography between June and October 2017. He also admitted possessing 18 indecent photographs of a child on an iPhone 7, and distributing one such picture, between the same dates. Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, said: “In these circumstances I always need a report.” He bailed King, of Catcoate Road, Hartlepool, until sentencing on February 6.