Leeds pervert sobbed as he was jailed for targeting multiple underage girls online
He was undeterred after one even accused him of being a paedophile
A predator who sent vile messages to girls as young as 12 cried as he was jailed for more than five years.
Paedophile Jake Regan was told by the judge at Leeds Crown Court that he “clearly had a sexual desire for children”, having admitted a string of offences.
The 33-year-old was arrested after the parents of a 12-year-old girl found sexual messages on her phone and contacted the police.
In the space of a day, he made sickening suggestions over Snapchat about getting her pregnant.
He was arrested in January last year and after seizing his phone, officers found he had been in contact with other young females.
He had been speaking to a 13-year-old girl on Telegram and the conversation was “sexual throughout”, prosecutor Becky Jane said.
He said he “needed to see her”. He then sent explicit videos of himself.
Regan had also been speaking to girls aged 13 to 15 on TikTok, telling one she was cute, and making sexual comments to the others.
His phone was found to have an indecent image of a female child aged 12 to 14, while he also had nine ecstasy pills on him when he was arrested.
Regan, of Borrough Avenue, Gledhow, has no previous convictions.
He admitted charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to watch a sexual act, two of attempting sexual communications with a child, making an indecent image and possession of Class A drugs.
He also admitted breaching the terms of the sexual offender register after police later caught him staying at a home where children under 13 were present.
Mitigating, Giles Grant said Regan, who was sobbing over the video link from HMP Leeds, lived an isolated lifestyle.
He said it was “not an excuse” but put his situation in context. He said he also suffered from a social disorder.
But Judge Robin Mairs told Regan: “You were quite capable of exercising appropriate judgement.
“Therefore, your mental health problems can have little mitigation in relation to your offending.”
He jailed him for five years and six months, put him on the sex offender register for life and gave him a lifelong sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).