A 24-year-old from Hull who pleaded guilty to numerous sexual offences against teenage girls has appeared at Hull Crown Court for sentencing.

Josh Boynton-Eckles from Hull pleaded guilty to five counts of causing / inciting sexual activity with three girls aged between 13 and 15 years old, making indecent images of a child, distributing indecent images of a child and fraud by false representation at an earlier court hearing.

He appeared at Hull Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday, 25 February) where he was sentenced to 20-months imprisonment, suspended for 2 years, ordered to be on the sex offenders register for 10-years and given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Detective Constable James Salamon who was the officer in the case said: “This was an extensive investigation of a predatory sex offender who posed a real threat to young teenage girls.

“The case relates to offences that took place in July and August 2016 when Boynton-Eckles made contact with a number of teenage girls via online apps, engaging them in inappropriate, sexual chats and sending naked images of himself, while also requesting indecent images in return, despite knowing their ages.

“The examination of his mobile phone and apps was incredibly exhaustive with 1000’s of images discovered and if printed, more than 15,000 pages of data examined in order to identify as many victims as possible.

“Over 80 teenage girls from all over the world were identified as being in contact with him and 85 indecent images of young teenage girls from the UK, Germany, USA and Canada, were found on his mobile phone.

“Extensive enquiries resulted in a number of the girls being identified, with any under the age of 18 where it was possible, spoken to by officers with safeguarding put in place and support and care also made available for them. The information was also shared with various law enforcement organisations in other countries.”

In court today, his Honour Judge Tremberg described Boynton-Eckles as “having carried out an indiscriminate and predatory course of conduct by his actions in targeting young girls online”.

He also described that Boynton-Eckles was “every parent’s worst nightmare” when referring to his actions whilst online.

DC Salamon continued: “I want to thank everyone who spoke to us as part of the investigation, and to those who provided evidence in this case I want to praise them for their courage in coming forward and helping with the investigation and the prosecution process.

“The Sexual Harm Prevention Order will provide a means for us to monitor Boynton- Eckles and his actions, and should there be any evidence of offending in the next two-years, he could potentially be sent to prison to serve the 20-month sentence.

“We would always encourage anyone who has been a victim of similar activity or behaviour, whether in person or online, to please come forward and report what has happened to them, as we will always take reports of this nature seriously and do all we can to bring offenders before the courts.”