STEVEN PATTERSON

A paedophile who raped and abused a young boy was snared when police were able to identify the victim after seizing his devices for indecent images offences.

Steven Patterson had amassed a sickening library of thousands of child abuse images and had also posed as a 13-year-old girl and distributed indecent images.

It was then revealed he had been sexually abusing a child in real life.

Now the 27-year-old pervert, of Briarsyde, Benton, North Tyneside, has been jailed for 15 years at Newcastle Crown Court for a string of sex offences, including rape, sexual activity with a child and indecent images charges.

Police went to Patterson's home in 2017 to execute a search warrant and seized electronic devices and he was arrested at his place of work in Northumberland.

He said he couldn't remember possessing indecent images of children and claimed his devices must have been hacked.

Officers found a large number of indecent images of children, including extremely young children and babies.

Judge Sarah Mallett told him: "The images you kept were placed in a structured and organised filing system and were amassed over a significant period of time.