SEAHAM MEDIC JAILED FOR ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
A young medic posed in surgical scrubs to impress what he thought was an underage boy during increasingly sexualised messages on the internet.Luke Bresnan claimed to be 17 and on a college placement at a hospital, in the messaging with what he believed to be a 12-year-old boy, ‘Jake’.
But Durham Crown Court was told ’Jake’, in reality, was a decoy profile posted by an undercover law enforcement officer on the Kick site.
Having made contact in November 2023, Bresnan was immediately told the other person, ‘Jake’, was 12 and at school, with an image of a boy of that age in uniform posted to the defendant.
Chris Baker, prosecuting, said Bresnan responded by sending the image of himself in surgical scrubs.
The messaging moved on to Snapchat on which Bresnan sent images of himself in underwear and of his torso and in return was sent a picture of a boy in shorts.
He told ‘Jake’ he only sent the odd risky picture to people with whom he really got on, and when he sent him one of his genitalia, he preceded it by warning the boy, “make sure no-one was around”, when he opened them.
In follow up messaging he claimed to be performing a sex act on himself and asked ‘Jake’ if he wanted to see.
‘Jake’ avoided sending more intimate pictures asked for by Bresnan, who apologised saying he got “too excited” and forgot how young the boy was.
Mr Baker said communication ended on December 20 and Bresnan was arrested at home the following day when both his phone and laptop were seized.
Indecent images of children, both still and moving, and in all three categories of severity, were recovered from the devices, dating from 2020 to 23.
There also appeared to have been contact with a number of people under 17.
Bresnan, 24, of Boulmer Lea, Seaham, indicated guilty pleas to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act, plus three counts of making an indecent image of a child, at a hearing last month.
The case was committed to the crown court for sentence.
Imposing an eight-month prison sentence she also made the defendant subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order relating to future use of electronic devices and contact with children under 16.
He will also be subject to registration as a sex offender, with both orders running for ten years.
Judge Kidd also ordered deprivation and destruction of the devices seized by police.
