Declan Sains 28

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A dangerous sexual predator has been jailed after engaging in sexual communications with someone he believed was a child – but what officers found on his phone was even worse.

Declan Sains, 28, is now behind bars after being sentenced by a Judge following a complex police operation by officers from the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU).

In July last year, Sains believed he was talking to a 14-year-old boy online and persisted to send him sexually explicit messages and asking the child if he wanted a ‘rape experience’ and asking the boy to find a young school girl friend for Sains to also have sex with.

What Sains didn’t know was he was actually speaking to a NEROCU police officer who was closing in on him through a specialist police investigation.

Officers descended on Sains home address on Escomb Road in Bishop Auckland, and swiftly arrested him. Further enquiries uncovered more sexually explicit conversations with actual children which included Sains sending images of his own penis and asking them to insert objects into their anus.

He was subsequently charged with a number of child sex offences including engaging in sexual communication with a child, making indecent images of children and cause/incite a boy to engage in sexual activity.

Sains appeared at Durham Crown Court on January 16 and pleaded guilty to all charges.

Today (Thursday), he appeared before the same court and was sentenced to a total of eight years and three months behind bars, with an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and registration requirement.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Georgina Lewis, said:

“I want to thank all the officers who worked on this operation. This has been a particularly vile investigation with a child predator who thought he could hide online.

“Sains thought he could keep offending without consequences, but he has learned that our officers will not stop in their pursuit of abusers.

“Under Operation Sentinel, our regional approach to tacking serious and organised crime, we will continue to investigate these online offences to safeguard children and protect the public.”