"These offences were particularly vile"
A man from Bradford who bragged online about indecent images he had taken did not realise he was chatting to an undercover cop from the US.
The US authorities then flagged up Haseeb Rashad’s online activity to the UK’s National Crime Agency.
A British undercover police officer proceeded to make contact with the now 23-year-old.
Once arrested, Haseeb Rashad was found to have around 600 indecent images of children on his phone and computer.
The sex offender was said to have been “groomed” by an older man who encouraged him to take the images.
This led to Rashad taking two indecent photos of a young boy and sending them on to at least one other person via Snapchat.
Bradford Crown Court heard that Rashad suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and was described as being “abnormally compliant and suggestible”.
He pleaded guilty to a total of nine charges, eight of which related to indecent images of children.
The final charge related to possessing prohibited images of children.
The charges covered a year-long period from March 2019 to March 2020 and included taking indecent photographs of a young boy and distributing those images.
Recorder Benjamin Nolan QC sentenced Haseeb Rashad, of Highlands Close, Bradford, to 26 months in prison.
He was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and he was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.
In sentencing, the Recorder said: “These offences were particularly vile involving very young children.
“Making and distributing images of children are serious incidents and require substantial sentencing.”
The prosecutor told the court that Rashad initially began chatting to an undercover cop in the US in March 2020.
He bragged about the indecent images he had taken, and shared links online to other indecent images, all for “acceptance and credibility”.
In their chats, Rashad posted about “hoping to get married and have his own children to abuse”.
Rashad was arrested on March 20, 2020, and initially did not admit that he had a sexual interest in children.
In his defence, the court heard that he had been abused by an older man, who had persuaded the defendant to take indecent images.
His barrister said that Haseem had tried to get out by deleting the app he used to chat to others but eventually reinstalled it.
The barrister added: “He has the motivation and capacity to change.”
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