By Sammie Jones-
A convicted paedophile who befriended what he believed to be a mother-of-three, with the expressed goal of raping and sexually abusing her young children has been jailed for six and a half years. Benjamin Knight fell fell into the trap of an undercover police officer who pretended to have little girls aged ten and two and a boy of seven, jurors at Bradford Crown Court heard today.
The paedo, who has previous history for abuse, was jailed for 18 months at Aylesbury Crown Court in 2018 for making indecent images and made the subject of a ten-year SHPO.
Knight, 41, inquired whether the youngsters were “available” for sexual abuse, and suggested meeting up, prosecutor David McGonigal told the shocked court.
He told the woman he hoped to have his own family one day to “train” and claimed to have abused a small child several years ago.
After a series of messages and a phone conversation, between August 2 and 5, Knight was arrested at his home at Wisp Hill Croft, Grassington, near Skipton.
He appeared before Skipton Magistrates on August 6 and was remanded in custody in HMP Leeds.
Knight pleaded guilty to a total of 13 sexual offences, including three counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence (two rapes and a sexual assault); two breaches of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO); and eight offences in-volving the distribution and storage of thousands of indecent images of children at cate-gories A, B and C.
d Knight was jailed for 18 months at Aylesbury Crown Court in 2018 for making indecent images and made the subject of a ten-year SHPO.
Cops who uncovered two phones hidden under his bed in August this year, said it contained 1,180 category A images; 719 at category B and 1,384 at category C. There were also 307 extreme pornographic images and two prohibited images of children.
Radhia Karaa, who was mitigating on behalf of Knight, said that there were no real children, and Knight never intended to meet up with the fictitious family.
Karaa said he had been working as a forklift truck driver after his release from prison, and believed he was doing little harm.
Knight had now been in custody for four months, Miss Karaa said.
Judge Neil Davey QC said Knight’s sexual interest in children had escalated since his jail sentence. He had spoken in detail about what he wanted to do to three young children.
The phones hidden under his bed were kept secret from the police in flagrant breach of the SHPO.
Knight’s probation officer had found that he posed a significant risk of serious harm caused by the commission of further serious specified offences.
The SHPO continues and Knight must register as a sex offender for life.