A sick pervert is back behind bars after downloading child abuse images and boasting about a sex attack on a 14-year-old girl during an online chat.

Graham Butterfield was locked up in August 2017 after he sent messages to pre-teen girls asking them to engage in sex practices and he downloaded pictures of others as young as seven having sex with adults.

The 62-year-old was made subject of a life-long sexual harm prevention order in an attempt to curb his addiction to downloading and watching sickening child abuse images and videos.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Butterfield had breached the order previously and was given community order and a suspended sentence but they did not deter him from re-offending.

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Jon Harley, prosecuting, said specialist officers attended Butterfield’s home and discovered he had two unregistered digital devices – a mobile phone and a tablet – which he was using to visit chatrooms and store indecent images.

The judge heard how the defendant used different online aliases despite being subject to an indefinite notification order and spoke to people about his sexual fantasies and boast about sexually abusing a teenage girl.

In police interview, Butterfield said he was ‘utterly disgusted with himself’ and accepted he had ended up on a ‘slippery slope’ when he visited the chatrooms.

Butterfield, of Lindisfarne Avenue, Thornaby, pleaded guilty to possession of two category A – the more serious offence – indecent images; possession of 18 category B images, possession of 40 category C images; breaches of his sexual harm prevention order, and breaches of his notification order.

Brian Russell, mitigating, said his client had become isolated since his previous conviction and the chatrooms were his only contact with adults but accepted it was the ‘slippery slope’ into reoffending.

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Recorder Thomas Moran sentenced Butterfield to a total of 30 months for all offences.

“It is clear enough that you still have a sexual interest in children,” he said. “You tried to persuade people to let you take pictures of their children.

“You realised what you were doing and told one person that you had spent time in prison and would kill yourself if you went back.”

Butterfield was also made subject of a new indefinite sexual harm prevention order.