JAKE MCMAHON-BATES

BLACKBURN MAN JAILED FOR SHARING INDECENT IMAGES OF CHILDREN ON SNAPCHAT

A ‘dangerous’ sex offender from Blackburn who shared indecent images of children on Snapchat has been jailed.

Earlier this year, police received a tip-off about 23-year-old Jake McMahon-Bates, who uploaded two indecent videos of children to Snapchat.

Officers attended McMahon-Bates’ address in Witton Parade, Blackburn, on May 1 of this year and arrested him on suspicion of possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

Amongst the items seized from inside the property were McMahon-Bates’ electronic devices.

On two of the devices seized, a total of 59 indecent images of children were found, with the youngest victim being four years old.

Some of these indecent images had been sent on to other Snapchat users.

There was also evidence McMahon-Bates had been communicating with a 15-year-old girl and asking her if she wanted to have sex with him.

McMahon-Bates had also deleted his internet history, which he was banned from doing so by a sexual harm prevention order that was imposed in 2020 and lasted for five years.

McMahon-Bates was later charged with making and distributing indecent images of children, sexual communication with a child under 15, breaching a sexual harm prevention order and improper importation of indecent/obscene articles.

He admitted all the offences when he appeared in the dock at Preston Crown Court last month.

He returned to the same court on Monday (September 8) where he was jailed for two years and given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

DC Beth Turner, from Lancashire Police’s east internet child exploitation team, said: “McMahon-Bates is a dangerous individual who has a worrying sexual interest in children and seeks out similar individuals.

I welcome the fact he is now in prison.”