A PERVERT was jailed and told he will be deported after he sent an indecent picture to children as young as nine on Instagram and WhatsApp and engaged in sexual activity with a girl, writes Tom Moody and Iwan Gabe Davies.

Hejrat Lewani, from Newport, forwarded an obscene image to six girls, aged between nine and 14, living in the city using the social media networks.

The 27-year-old pleaded guilty to six counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child, one charge of sexual activity with a child and one offence of sending an article of an indecent nature after he sent the same indecent photograph to a woman.

Judge Timothy Petts branded Lewani and his behaviour as “disgusting” when sentencing him at Cardiff Crown Court.

Prosecutor Stephen Rees read out a victim impact statement from the mother of the girl who he had engaged in sexual activity with.

She said Lewani had “robbed my daughter of her youth” and that she had become “introverted and anxious” as a result of her ordeal.

He was due to stand trial for the offences at Cardiff Crown Court last month, but before a jury could be sworn in, Lewani, using a Pashto interpreter and represented by his barrister Nigel Fryer, changed his pleas to guilty.

The charges relating to the obscene images happened in January 2017 while the sexual activity with a child offence took place between October and December 2015.

Mr Fryer, mitigating for his client, said: “He has a family back in Pakistan who are dependent on him for money.

“Mr Lewani says he was embarrassed, he was sorry, and he was regretful.”

Judge Petts told the defendant: “Your behaviour is disgusting, and only a custodial sentence will do.”

Lewani, now of Mayfield Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon, London, was jailed for two years and five months.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and placed on the sex offenders register for the same period of time.

The defendant was told he would be deported at the end of his custodial sentence.

He must also pay a victim surcharge of £140.