A PERVERT was jailed for three years for posing as a woman on the internet to trick teenage boys into putting on vulgar webcam shows.

Liam French groomed his victims and bribed them into carrying out his wishes by sending them photographs of his alter-ego Stacey.

French, 25, pretended he was the 17-year-old female to hook the boys into his fantasy world of child abuse and bestiality.

He encouraged the boys to have sex with their siblings and perform acts in front of their computers, and sent them pornographic pictures in return.

Some of the “extreme” indecent images depicted a young woman and animals – and French claimed he was the person in the pictures.

In different online chat sessions, the insurance salesman was truthful about his identity and talked to other paedophiles about his interests.

He spoke of having sex with babies and abusing young girls during the exchanges, prosecutor Ian Mullarkey told Teesside Crown Court.

On one occasion, French arranged to go from his home in Billingham, near Stockton, to have sex with a home-alone 14-year-old, but the plans were aborted when he was unable to get transport.

Computer correspondence found later by police showed he is likely to have subsequently met the schoolboy and had sexual contact with him.

Brian Russell, mitigating, said: “Rather bizarrely, this activity was in the context of a relatively stable relationship with another man.

“Notwithstanding what he has had to sit and listen to today, he has stood by him.”

French, now of Parkfield Road, Leeds, admitted possessing and distributing indecent images between July 2008 and February last year.

He also admitted charges of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.