Blackhall man exchanged indecent images of children with man in US

Lee Mole, of Blackhall Colliery, County Durham, encouraged his online American “friend” to sexually assault a young girl and asked him to then post images of the abuse on the internet.

Durham Crown Court heard that the nature of the Kick Messenger exchanges came to the attention of US Homeland Security, which led to the arrest of the abuser, in Oregon.

He disclosed having been in contact with a user of the site in the UK, going under the name ‘BigLadBrown181280’, with the email address of the defendant.

(Image: Durham Constabulary) Annelise Haugstad, prosecuting, said offending images in category A and B of severity, featuring a girl aged between eight and ten being abused, were sent by the defendant to the man in Oregon.

Miss Haugstad said the nature of the discussions between the pair centred around how they enjoyed sex with very young girls and Mole incited the man in Oregon to abuse a two-year-old child, images of which were sent to the defendant, at his request.

The court heard that at the time of the exchanges with the man in the US, Mole was subject to inquiries by Durham Police over possession of indent images of children, for which he was to plead guilty before receiving a suspended 15-month prison sentence, in October, last year.

Miss Haugstad told the court he also has a similar conviction dating from 2015.

When questioned about the images exchanged with the man in the US, Mole initially denied knowledge of them, but then admitted it was something he had been involved in for six months.

Miss Haugstad said when asked about his sexual interest in children he conceded it was something which aroused him.

The 53-year-old defendant of Hardwick Street, Blackhall Colliery, admitted three counts of making, and one of distributing indecent images of children.

(Image: Durham Constabulary) Vic Laffey, in mitigation, said Mole was “well aware” of the situation he was facing.

“He has, at least, been honest with the Probation Service in respect of the problems he has and my advice to him is that the only thing that may save him is that he has been on a two-year order and for one year he has made progress.

“He’s described as working positively with the Probation Service.

“The good work he has done will be effectively lost if he is to receive an immediate custodial sentence.”

Mr Laffey said the defendant suffers with various ailments and is in poor health.

(Image: The Northern Echo) Judge Jo Kidd said the context of Mole’s latest offending was that it took place while under investigation or on bail, pending a review of devices seized in January 2023, on which police were to find numerous indecent images of children.

“You engaged in chat with a man in the US using the Kick Messenger platform.”

Judge Kidd said the defendant incited that man to sexually assault a two-year-old child and sought to obtain images of the abuse.

She said to persuade him to send the images the defendant mentioned having abused young children himself, which she said, “may have been fantasy, but you were clearly inciting him.”

The judge said the defendant was part of a group of people interested in sharing images of the abuse of young children.

“It’s difficult to think of a more disgusting and serious example of these offences against the background of your previous offences.”

She said he had previously been given the opportunity to try to deal with his depraved interest to reduce the likelihood of him repeating it in future.

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Imposing an immediate 32-month prison sentence, she told Mole: “You are an entrenched paedophile and there is no intervention which can be undertaken that would reduce the risk to children.”

She made him subject of indefinite notification as a sex offender and told Mole his name will be entered on the automatic barring list preventing him from working with children.

He will be subject of restrictions, both relating to future use of the internet, and including being prohibited from having contact with any child under 18, as part of a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order.