A paedophile who filmed himself attempting to rape an 18-month-old baby has been jailed.
Joshua Gould, 23, was caught with 1,300 images of children being abused and 52 extreme pornographic images – including one involving a female dog.
He later told officers he was “wrong in the head” after abusing three children, documenting his actions over a number of years.
After police seized his computer hard drive, parents were forced to look at the abuse images in order to identify their children.
Gould was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday (wed) at Basildon Crown Court as members of the young victims’ family shouted from the public gallery.
Sentencing, Judge Samantha Leigh said: “Parents had to identify their children from the photographs, which of course makes it worse in their mind.
“They have now seen a very small part of what you did to their daughters.”
Police raided a property in Grays, Essex on January 13 after Gould’s IP address had been detected uploading the indecent images.
Officers realised some of the material contained live abuse images – including of an 18-month-old child – with some of it dating back to 2012.
One image showed him exposing himself during a game of hide and seek.
Gould admitted possessing the material in a police interview, saying he “found pleasure in the images”.
Mark Savage, defending Gould, said his client could not explain why he had committed the offences and that “he was disgusted by his behaviour”.
Gould, from Tilbury, Essex, previously pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to rape a child under the age of 13; fours counts of assaulting a girl under the age of 13 by touching; two counts of taking indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of a child; and one count of possessing pornographic images of intercourse with a dead or alive animal.
He was sentenced to a total of ten years behind bars with eight years on licence after his release, for the attempted rape of a child.
He was also given three years in prison for the three counts of assaulting a girl under the age of 13 by touching, three years and nine months for the counts of taking indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of a child, and three months in prison for the count of possessing pornographic images of intercourse with a dead or alive animal.
The sentences were ordered to be served concurrently, meaning he will serve 10 years in prison in total.
The defendant was handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), and made to pay a victim surcharge.
He will also have to sign the sex offender register.
by Tommy Lumby
