AN INTERNET paedophile who sent a child abuse image to a teenager and pretended to be a girl online has escaped jail, with a judge branding the images he downloaded “stomach-churning”.

David Pincott, aged 32, of Worcester Street, Monmouth, admitted distributing indecent photographs of children, six charges of possessing indecent images, and inciting a 12-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity, between November 1 and December 5 last year.

Appearing at Newport Crown Court on Friday, Pincott was said to have 342 images, including 52 videos.

John Warren, prosecuting, told the court that the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre tracked Pincott’s online activity last November at his Monmouth flat.

On December 6, 2013, Gwent Police were notified by Cambridgeshire police that a 12-year-old girl had been having Facebook conversations with Pincott, who was calling himself Mike Bevan.

The defendant admitted pretending to be a teenager after losing his job and suffering from depression, turning to drink and drugs and seeking out young girls.

Judge Philip Richards, who had to look at some of the images downloaded by Pincott, said: “I find the images stomach-churning."

Andrew Jones, mitigating, said the knock at the door had been a form of relief for Pincott and he now hoped to set up a business with his uncle.

He cannot own any device or software where the internet history can be wiped and cannot have unsupervised contact with a child under 16.