This story is only available to Hereford Times subscribers. Click here to find out why and how to subscribe for exclusive court stories.

A "DISGUSTING" paedophile has been locked up for sending sexual messages to an undercover police officer who he believed to be a 12-year-old boy.

Kyle Hughes thought he was talking to a pre-pubescent child online, but in reality he was communicating with an undercover officer and the 'child' was just a decoy.

In the conversation, Hughes said that he "likes boys aged 12", asked the 'child' questions about his genitals, attempted to incite the child to masturbate and sent a picture of his own and another man's genitals.

Screenshots of the messages showed him asking, "Do you like to play with yourself?" and "Would you ever let me see yours [genitals]?"

He was in possession of thousands of pornographic images of child abuse, some of which were on a USB stick he had hidden from police.

Police also found conversations on the app Telegram in which Hughes discussed the abuse of underage children.

The 31-year-old has been jailed for 58 months at Worcester Crown Court.

Judge Salmon labelled his crimes "disgusting" and said that the offences were aggravated by Hughes' previous convictions, the fact that he had such a large number of indecent child images, and the disparity in age between him and the 'child'. He had also committed these offences while on licence for a previous conviction and while subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

The court heard that Hughes had arrived at court "not expecting a custodial sentence" and "hadn't even brought a bag". 

"Out of mercy," the judge said, he was given an hour to spend with his parents within the court before being handed his sentence.

Hughes had pleaded guilty to  a total of 10 offences at Hereford Magistrates’ Court on July 24, including one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a boy under the age of 13 and one count of attempting to cause him to engage in sexual activity. These offences were in breach of an SHPO he was already subject to.

Defence barrister Karpinsky, mitigating, said Hughes was sexually abused as a child and suffered with depression and anxiety, but had no diagnosed mental illnesses. He had self-diagnosed with ADHD.

Sentencing him to a total of 58 months in prison, made up of three consecutive sentences for possession of the images, attempting to communicate with a child and breaching the sexual harm prevention order, the judge said: "The USB contains disgusting sexual abuse images and you are in contact with people who wish to see them. You had hidden it from the authorities.

ALSO READ:

"You are someone who does pose a significant risk of causing substantial harm to children and seeking out individuals.

"There must be a worry that you will find a real child and then seek to persuade that child that there should be some form of meeting.

"I am well aware of the conditions inside custody and also the pressure of custodial establishments but the only sentence I can pass has to be one of this length."