Squalid-living Snapchat paedophile was caught with abuse images and pestered young girl for nude photos

Officers went to the home of Ashley Breen and found him living in “uninhabitable” conditions having hoarded items in the St Anne’s Street property in Wakefield.

They seized his mobile phone and found more than 200 illegal images, including 62 category A images – the most serious type of abuse. It also contained 17 category B and 75 category C. They also found two prohibited images of children. There was a combination of still images and videos of children as young as four being abused.

They also found a conversation Breen has been having on Snapchat with a supposed young teenage girl in which he repeatedly asked for naked photos of her and engaged in “highly-sexualised conversations”, Leeds Crown Court was told.

During his police interview, the 26-year-old gave no comments. He has no previous convictions, but admitted three counts of possessing indecent images, possessing prohibited images and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. No charge was bought against him for sharing images.

A probation report found that he had mental health issues, was extremely isolated and spent all of his time on his own. The police said that his property was in a bad way when they went to arrest him, with rubbish piled high. However, he had sought out help after being arrested, contacting West Yorkshire Liaison and Diversion, which supports vulnerable people facing criminal charges.

Mitigating, Lily Wildman said: “He has very much taken responsibility into his own hands for what has happened and has showed the motivation to make sure it does not happen again.”

Judge Neil Clark told Breen: “You are an isolated individual and have lived on your own since you were 16. You are boarder, used drugs to cope and have never worked.”

He gave him 12 months’ jail, suspended for two years. He also gave him 200 hours of unpaid work, ordered him to enrol on a sex offender programme and 55 rehabilitation days. He also gave him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to limit his internet use, and put him on the sex offender register for 10 years.