February 2019 Preston sex offender Rohan Sharma, who was caught by girl’s mum, is spared prison A paedophile who was brought to court after a quick thinking mum turned detective on the internet has avoided an immediate jail term. Rohan Sharma, 21, of Cottam Green, Cottam, was previously found guilty of inciting the woman’s daughter to engage in sexual activity. Unknown to jurors, he had already pleaded guilty to possessing a string of indecent images of children. Judge Beverley Lunt imposed a two year jail term, suspended for two years, and ordered him to sign the Sex Offender’s Register for 10 years. He was also given a five year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and must take part in a sex offender’s treatment programme. Sharma had received indecent images of children on to his i-Phone via the messaging application Kik, and downloaded them in July 2016 – on the same day he had messaged the youngster. He had many explicit sexual images and videos of young, and sometimes very young girls, on his phone and i-Pad, as well as pictures of himself he had sent to the girl. Preston Crown Court previously heard he was arrested after the horrified mum found the girl’s phone under her pillow, and spotted a string of notifications on an app called Whisper. Sharma sent lewd messages asking the youngster her to meet up and perform an act upon him. He had also asked the primary school pupil for pictures and sent her a bare-chested picture of himself. The girl told him she was 11, but he wasn’t put off, wanting to find out where she lived and where she went to school. Police were unable to trace a suspect when the family first reported the matter, so the mum created her own profile on social media app Whisper, and waited to see if the person on her daughter’s phone would post any new pictures. When she saw the same topless selfie Sharma sent to the girl had been uploaded on the site, she commented through the app: “Hot”. He then sent her his “Snapchat” ID so they could have more contact. This enabled the mum to get his name and give it to police. January 2019 Preston paedophile  found guilty of inciting 10-year-old girl and admits downloading indecent images A paedophile who was brought to court after a quick thinking mum turned detective on the internet has been found guilty of inciting her 10-year-old daughter into sexual activity. Rohan Sharma, 21, of Cottam Green, Cottam, had denied inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. But moments after their verdict was delivered, jurors were told the full extent of his sickening activities. Sharma had already pleaded guilty to possessing a string of indecent images of children, but not all of the details had been disclosed to the jury during his trial. It can now be revealed he had received indecent images of children on to his i-Phone via the messaging application Kik and downloaded them in July 2016 on the same day he had messaged the youngster. He had many explicit sexual images and videos of young, and sometimes very young girls, on his phone and i-Pad, as well as pictures of himself he had sent to the girl. Preston Crown Court previously heard he was arrested after the horrified mum found the girl’s phone under her pillow, and spotted a string of notifications on an app called Whisper. She found lewd messages in which Sharma asked her to meet up and perform an act upon him. He had also asked the primary school pupil for pictures and sent her a bare-chested picture of himself. The girl told him she was 11, but he wasn’t put off, wanting to find out where she lived and where she went to school. He said he lived in “Cottam, not far away”. It is understood other user names, who haven’t been traced, had also sent messages to the girl. Police were unable to trace a suspect when the family first reported the matter, so the mum created her own profile on social media app Whisper, and waited to see if the person on her daughter’s phone would post any new pictures. When she saw the same topless selfie Sharma sent to the girl had been uploaded on the site, she commented through the app: “Hot”. He then sent her his “Snapchat” ID so they could have more contact – which enabled the mum to get his name and give it to police. Sharma alleged photos of him were sent by someone else. Police found he had deleted the Whisper app from his phone. He will be sentenced on February 22.