Telford man spared jail after sending explicit images to another man he thought was a child

A Telford man who pretended to be a woman online and sent intimate photographs to somebody else who was pretending to be a child has been spared jail.

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Daniel Naylor, aged 31, of Marton Drive, Wellington, had in fact been chatting online to a man in Edinburgh, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Thursday (October 15).

Naylor’s messages came to light when the Edinburgh man was arrested in November 2024, the court was told.

Rosemary Proctor, prosecuting, said that when police examined the man’s phone they found a string of messages from Naylor who was pretending to be a woman.

As well as sending explicit images to the man - whom, the court heard, Naylor believed to be a 15-year-old girl - he requested images of the ‘child’ and had sexual chats, asking if she was a virgin and telling her she was “sexy”.

When police arrested Naylor and examined his phone, they found he had been sending images of a woman, claiming to be her, to multiple users.

He was charged with sharing intimate photographs without the owner’s permission and of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child - both of which he admitted at an earlier hearing.

Danny Smith, defending, said Naylor’s offences came during a “dark time” for the defendant who was suffering “depression and social anxiety” at the time.

Judge Trevor Meegan heard that before the offences that brought Naylor to court he had been a man of previous good character.

He jailed Naylor for 12 months, but suspended the sentence for two years, saying: “People who may read about this sentence in the Shropshire Star, or other media, may think this sentence is light, but I cannot sentence over public outrage or my own personal views, I have to sentence to the guidelines.”

Naylor was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years, ordered to undertake 250 hours of unpaid work, as well as ordered to pay £150 in court costs as well as an undisclosed victim surcharge, and attend probation meetings.