A 29-YEAR-OLD man who performed lurid sex acts in mobile phone video messages has kept his job at a call centre.

Anthony Talbot appeared before magistrates in Peterlee, east Durham, yesterday for sentence after he admitted sending grossly offensive video calls.

Simon Crowder, prosecuting, described how from November to December, last year, a woman received video calls from Talbot, of Torver Close, Peterlee.

He said the woman first received a call on November 19, which showed male genitalia on her screen.

That evening, the woman, who was said to have been sickened by the incident, received more calls, all with the number withheld.

Mr Crowder said the woman sought police advice but, on December 16, during a trip to the Gateshead MetroCentre, she received further calls.

On this occasion Talbot, an npower call centre employee, was carrying out a sex act, and the woman covered the lens on her phone to hide her identity from him.

As a result, Talbot had rung back and asked her to show her face.

Mr Crowder said that following police advice, she saved some of the images of Talbot, who was standing in a room with a mirror on the wall.

The court was told police accessed network provider records to track Talbot down.

Jaxon Taylor, in mitigation, said npower's investigations cleared Talbot of wrongdoing at work, establishing that he had "no involvement with the woman's account at all".

Mr Taylor said Talbot had obtained the woman's number during a conversation on the internet and had told an earlier hearing that he believed the woman was enjoying the conversations.

Mr Taylor told magistrates, however, that Talbot had admitted the offence, had expressed his remorse and accepted that the messages had been distressing.

Sentencing Talbot to a 12-month community order, magistrates told him: "This is an unpleasant matter."

He had, they said, made repeated calls over a period of time feeling no concern for the recipient.

Talbot was also ordered to pay £200 compensation to the woman and £60 court costs

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