A convicted paedophile freed on bail over child abuse images groomed a series of underage YouTubers into sending him indecent images and videos while he awaited court.
Jed Cossans then avoided jail over the indecent images charge for which he was sentenced, just days after trying to convince a nine-year-old boy to send him “pictures of your privates”.
Cossans – who was again bailed to await sentence – admitted targeting boys aged nine, 11 and 12 on YouTube, where each of them had their own channels used to post videos of themselves. In one instance he told the 12-year-old to expose himself as a “forfeit for not winning an online game”.
He told the 11-year-old he would give him “fun challenges” to do before daring him to pose naked.
And he went on to pose as a 16-year-old girl to the nine-year-old boy, telling him “his friends were lucky to see him naked in the changing rooms” before asking for nude images.
Cossans, 23, of Arbroath Road, pleaded guilty on indictment to three charges of sending sexual written communications to children between June 24 and June 26 and on July 3 and 4 last year, and again between February 10 and February 12 last year.
He was placed on the sex offenders register pending sentence in October.