Overview
- Police ran an undercover online decoy operation that led to 56-year-old Mark Craig being identified after he exchanged explicit messages, images and videos describing sexual abuse of young children.
- Officers arrested Craig in March and charged him with arranging or facilitating a child sex offence, making an indecent image of a child and distributing an indecent image of a child.
- Craig pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court to seven years and six months in prison on Friday, June 26.
- The court ordered Craig to register as a sex offender and placed him under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order that will run indefinitely to restrict contact and help manage risk.
- NEROCU said the result shows the value of coordinated regional investigations and signalled continued undercover online work to find and prosecute people who pose a threat to children; the police urged anyone with concerns to contact local forces, 101, 999 in an emergency or Crimestoppers.