'Dangerous' paedophile with an ‘obsession with sex and children’ used more than 30 online aliases

A dangerous paedophile with an ‘obsession with sex and children’ has been put behind bars after using more than 30 alias names which he claimed were used to play online bingo.

Daniel Smith was on two suspended sentences and the subject of a number of restrictions as a result of his previous targeting of children online.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 26-year-old must always use his real identity and keep the police informed of his internet activity.

He is banned from deleting his browsing or search history on internet devices.

The court heard despite the conditions he must live by, Smith set up internet accounts using 32 different aliases and claimed he had used them to play online bingo games.

Prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw told the court in August 2021 that a risk management officer visited his home and Smith confessed he had deleted the internet history on his Samsung mobile.

The court heard that when the phone was examined, the deleted data included over 5,500 internet searches, 19 Whatsapp messages, 26 contacts and 172 application user accounts.

Two other phones were later seized from him and he also owned two bank cards which he had not declared.

Mr Wardlaw said: "Of those 172 user accounts, 32, were names which the defendant had not registered with the police. He said he used the aliases to play bingo."

Mr Wardlaw said the deletion of the internet activity was a concern and added: "The Crown simply does not know who he has been contacting on the social media applications."

Smith, formerly of South Shields, but now of Linthorpe Road, Gosforth, Newcastle, admitted breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, two charges of failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements and possession of a Category C image of a child.

The court heard Smith first came to the attention of the authorities in June 2018 when he was given a community order for attempting to meet two underage girls, who turned out to be decoys.

In May 2020 he was given a suspended sentence for failing to comply with requirements by communicating with an adult female online, who he visited in Scotland several times, where a child was present.

In October last year he was given another suspended sentence for deleting his Whatsapp history after exchanging messages, which he later deleted, on a paid-for app.

Ian Hudson, defending, said Smith has learning difficulties.

Mr Recorder Ben Nolan KC sentenced Smith to three-and-a-half years behind bars.

He told him: "It is clear you have an obsession with sex and children.

"In my judgement you are a potentially very dangerous young man, notwithstanding your personal difficulties."

Smith now has to sign the sex offenders register for life.