Paedophile Wakefield bus driver who shared child-abuse images handed jail

Daniel Allan was found to discussed his sick preferences for girls aged between five and 12 with other perverts when police confiscated his digital devices.

He was arrested after being confronted by paedophile hunter group for contacting a young girl online and encouraging her to masturbate.

Footage of the sting showed him being pinned to the pavement by several members of the group after he tried to flee.

Allan was jailed at Leeds Crown Court for 50 months after admitting a string of offences. He was initially expected to be sentenced last month but the judge wanted further details because his offending began when he was under 18.

Now 24, he had first contacted the girl in March 2022. He quickly turned the conversation sexual, asking about her underwear and if she was wearing a school uniform.

He sent her a photo of his erect penis and asked her to masturbate.

Allan, of Newhall Way, Flockton, Wakefield, was later arrested and gave a largely no-comment interview.

However, police found more than 50 child abuse images on his phone, ranging from Category A - the most serious - to Category B and C.

It also contained a prohibited image of a child and extreme pornographic images involving animals.

It was found that he had also had conversations with other perverts online dating back to 2019 in which he expressed his interests in children under 12 and had swapped images.

He had also targeted another young girl in 2020 when he encouraged her to masturbate using a hairbrush handle. It was unknown if the girl was genuine, prosecutor Samuel Ponniah said.

Evidence was also found that he was visiting online chat rooms discussing his fantasies with other paedophiles.

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Among the offences Allan admitted were attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child, two of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of making indecent images, distributing images and possession of extreme pornographic images.

Mitigating, Leila Taleb said Allan has no previous convictions and has since sought therapy for his urges. He had been working as a bus driver but had lost the job because of the court case.

She said he was only 17 at the time his offending started.

As well as his prison sentence, he was given an indefinite-length sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and put on the sex offender register.