Jailed man had 'foul and depraved' child rape images
Northumbria PoliceA paedophile with a "foul and depraved" collection of baby rape images, which was uncovered by police after he was caught online trying to meet a teenage boy for sex, has been jailed.
Martin Thompson, 42, from Sunderland, was ensnared by an undercover police officer posing as a 14-year-old boy on Snapchat, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Officers subsequently found hundreds of indecent images of children on his phone and tablet, some of which he had sent to other paedophiles.
Thompson, who was jailed in 2005 for indecently assaulting a girl, admitted seven new offences including attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. He was jailed for three and a half years.
Thompson contacted what he thought was a 14-year-old boy on Snapchat in April 2025, and over the following weeks sent him increasingly sexually graphic messages, the court heard.
The teenager's profile had, however, been fabricated by the police, with officers arresting Thompson in June 2025, prosecutors said.
On his devices they found 220 indecent images of children, including 134 in the most serious category, the court heard.
Some of the images were of the "most foul and unspeakably depraved" nature, Judge Thomas Moran said, involving children as young as five months old, and a video of a baby being raped.
'High risk to children'
Police also found Thompson had been communicating with other paedophiles online and had sent five of the most serious images to others, receiving other material in return, the court heard.
Thompson told one of his fellow paedophiles he was "into 13 and under", the court heard.
The court heard Thompson had been made subject to a sexual offences prevention order in 2005 which, among other things, banned him from having unsupervised contact with anyone under 16.
His attempts to meet someone he believed was a 14-year-old boy put him in "very serious breach" of that order, given it appeared he was intent upon having sex with a child, the court heard.
The judge said Thompson had been assessed as posing a "high risk of serious harm to children".
Thompson must also sign the sex offender register and comply with a new sexual harm prevention order.