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A sex-obsessed pervert’s dirty secrets unravelled when he traded in his phone.

Stewart Tivendale, 22, made sexual advances to children online and collected 11 hours of child abuse films.

His sordid hidden world was exposed when he traded in his phone at a Redcar shop in April 2016.

Checking the old phone, the shop manager opened it to find a picture of a naked 13-year-old girl with the title “dark web”, and called police.

Another 24 similar child abuse images were found on the phone, said prosecutor Harry Hadfield on Friday.

The discovery led to a search of Tivendale’s Redcar home three days later.

Officers found another 1,193 disturbing images on his computer tower and another phone, including 11 hours of videos on the computer.

The worst images showed children as young as nine in distress, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Tivendale had been systematically searching for the sickening pictures.

He had also been chatting to underage boys and girls on the internet, officers found.

Skype and Facebook Messenger logs revealed he used numerous online identities to make sexual conversations with five teenage boys and girls.

He asked for indecent pictures of victims, sending an explicit video of child abuse.

He tried to persuade children to take part in sexual activity, telling one girl: “I’d love to be in bed with you.”

As his words became more obscene, he spoke of putting his hand around her throat.

He talked of taking boys’ and girls’ virginities, and asked a boy: “Do you fancy meeting right now?”

No meetings occurred.

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A week after pleading guilty to these offences, and going on the sex offenders’ register, he was caught again on bail in April this year.

A detective visiting his home asked Tivendale for his phone, where 33 more child abuse images were found, this time of children as young as three.

Tivendale, of Crescent Road, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, admitted 16 charges.

These were five counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, two of attempting to incite child sexual exploitation, six of making and one of distributing indecent images of children, possessing 29 extreme pornographic images, and arranging or facilitating a child sex offence.

His offending spanned years since he was 17 into his early 20s.

Duncan McReddie, defending, said Tivendale had been unusually guileless and candid in owning up to his activities.

Tivendale’s offending was rooted in his troubled childhood, having been “cast into the adult world with no support or assistance”.

He had difficulty forming relationships with people and kept himself to himself.

He worked until he was dismissed because of the allegations, and had to move home repeatedly as his crimes came to light.

Mr McReddie argued Tivendale needed structured intervention to tackle his “compulsion”, and this might not happen in prison.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, told Tivendale: “There is a more troubling aspect to your personality and character, namely your obsession with sex.

“Particularly your obsession with sex with young children, whether it be boys or girls.”

He said the “dreadful” images depicted real victims forced into sexual acts to satisfy paedophiles’ prurient interests.

He accepted Tivendale did not intend to meet the youngsters he talked to online.

Tivendale was jailed for three years, given a sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offenders’ register, both for 10 years.