A PREDATORY paedophile who hacked into internet chat accounts so he could expose himself to children has been jailed for 15 months.
Kevin Shutt, 60, of Park Fields, Halifax, admitted three offences of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
Jailing Shutt, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said: "You are a predatory paedophile who has gone to extreme lengths to targ
et, by deception young children whose parents thought they were innocently conversing with friends."
Bradford Crown Court heard that in November 2007, an 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl, were chatting to friends on the internet using MSN.
Stephen Grattage, prosecuting, said the girls received a request to chat from a friend.
However, Shutt had hacked into the account and was posing as their friend's stepfather.
Later that day, Shutt contacted the girls again under the guise of their friend and on a webcam they saw him committing a lewd act.
Mr Grattage said the girl's father heard their screams and tried to capture what was happening on a mobile phone.
Shutt had also contacted a 13-year-old boy and performed a sex act via a webcam.
Police traced Shutt and confiscated his home and work computers.
Officers found he had hacked into MSN accounts and used two to contact the children.
They also found pictures of children that Shutt used as his profile pictures.
Mr Grattage said there was evidence of a search for child porn on the work computer but because other employees had access to it, no charges were brought.
Ahmed Nadim, for Shutt, said: "There is no suggestion of grooming in the sense of encouraging these victims to have a meeting with him for a sexual purpose."
Judge Durham Hall told Shutt: "You are somebody who poses a considerable risk of offending in a similar manner in the future."
He added that he would have liked to impose a longer sentence but was prevented from doing so by law.
