Jail for Leeds man who forwarded sick child-abuse video to woman
A driver who sent on a sickening video of a child being abused to a woman has been locked up.
Octav Mircea Sandu claimed he had no sexual interest in children, but the judge at Leeds Crown Court said there was “clearly a sexual background” to his motive.
Prosecutor Carmel Pearson said the police had been tipped off about the video being sent to a woman that Sandu was having sexual relations with.
They went to the 39-year-old’s home address on Airlie Place, Chapeltown, during the summer to arrest him.
The video was found on his phone. It involved the serious abuse of a boy aged between two and four.
It was classed by police as being in Category A - the most serious kind of abuse showing sexual penetration.
Sandu claimed a friend sent it to him while he was driving, before he forwarded it onto the woman.
The Romanian native has no previous convictions, and admitted distributing a Category A image.
Mitigating, Mohammed Rafiq told the court: “He has no interest in children. His interest is adult women.
“He accepts the image was on his phone and accepts he sent it foolishly. He has brought shame upon himself and those that know him.”
He said Sandu worked as a driver and leaflet distributor.
Judge Robin Mairs jailed him for 18 months and told him it would “give him a chance to work on his sexual preoccupation”.
He was also put on the sexual offender register for 18 months.