A man has been jailed for more than three years after pleading guilty to 10 child sex offences.

Simon Smith, aged 43, of Tealbeck Approach, Otley, was charged with 10 offences including: three offences of making indecent images of children; three offences of sexual communication with a child; three offences of causing a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity and one offence of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

The offending came to light when West Yorkshire Police received information in December 2020 that a user of an IP address was sharing indecent images of children on.

A warrant was executed at the address where a number of items were seized and items from his devices were sent off to be downloaded by the digital forensic unit.

Hundreds of indecent images were found on his computer and also information that he was engaging in sexual communication with a child.

The indecent images offences were from December 2012 to February 2021 and the sexual communications offences were from January 2021 to February 2021.

On Monday, June 19 he was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court to 40 months in jail, he was also given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and must sign on the sex offenders register for life.

Police Constable Kate Davis of Bradford District’s Policing Online Investigation team said: “Smith is a dangerous sexual predator.

“He went to extreme lengths to cover up his activities and his intentions to cause serious harm to children.

“We hope this sentence sends a clear message that we take all reports of online activity seriously and we are committed to protecting children from sexual abuse.”