Sick Leeds paedophile with preference for babies shared images online
A paedophile was caught trying to groom a boy, weeks after he was arrested for sharing abuse images with other perverts online.
Ben Manion, who has a sickening sexual interest in toddlers and babies, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week for a catalogue of crimes.
He was part of a “network” of paedophiles sharing and discussing their vile fantasies online, which came to the attention of police last year.
Intelligence was passed to officers in November that Manion had been uploading the illegal images to X, formerly Twitter.
They went to his home on Cross Flatts Crescent in Leeds and arrested him, seizing two mobile phones and laptops.
They found more than 1,500 images and videos of Category A, B and C - with Category A depicting the most serious abuse of children, including rape.
Prosecutor Jordan Millican said many of the images were of babies and toddlers being abused.
He said Manion had shared images with the other paedophiles, where they discussed their vile interests.
But having been questioned and released, in February of this year Manion latched onto a profile of a 14-year-old boy on Snapchat.
He sent pictures of his penis and a video of him masturbating. But the account was run by an undercover officer and Manion was arrested again.
He was held on remand and appeared in court this week from HMP Leeds on his 31st birthday.
He admitted three counts of making indecent images, distributing images, possession of prohibited images and possession of extreme pornography involving sexual acts with animals.
Manion also admitted attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and attempted sexual communication with a child.
He has no previous convictions. Mitigating, Stuart Field said Manion had become addicted to pornography during his teenage years.
He said he was “lucky” to have support from his husband and his mother.
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told Manion: “What a way to celebrate your 31st birthday.
“It seems to me you had been exposed to this type of material at a young age and came to influence you as you grew up.”
He said that Manion had been sacked from his job after the first set of offences came to light. He was then sacked from a second after he was charged with the Snapchat offences.
Judge Khokhar told him: “You knew very well you were being investigated and would be appearing in court.
“Nevertheless, three months later you were trying to contact a 14-year-old boy.”
He said he would be “failing in his public duty” if he did not jail Manion.
He gave him a three-year sentence, put him on the sex offender register for life, and an indefinite-length sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).