Benton paedophile jailed for raping young boy and having thousands of child abuse images

A paedophile who raped and abused a young boy was snared when police were able to identify the victim after seizing his devices for indecent images offences.

Steven Patterson had amassed a sickening library of thousands of child abuse images and had also posed as a 13-year-old girl and distributed indecent images. It was then revealed he had been sexually abusing a child in real life.

Now the 27-year-old pervert, of Briarsyde, Benton, North Tyneside, has been jailed for 15 years at Newcastle Crown Court for a string of sex offences, including rape, sexual activity with a child and indecent images charges.

Police went to Patterson's home in 2017 to execute a search warrant and seized electronic devices and he was arrested at his place of work in Northumberland. He said he couldn't remember possessing indecent images of children and claimed his devices must have been hacked.

Officers found a large number of indecent images of children, including extremely young children and babies. Judge Sarah Mallett told him: "The images you kept were placed in a structured and organised filing system and were amassed over a significant period of time.

"You said you had been engaging in this behaviour since puberty and had a particular interest in young boys." More than 10,000 indecent images were found, including more than 1,000 of the most serious type.

He was then arrested again in 2018 and around 2,000 indecent images were found when police checked his phone and a storage device.

It was also discovered that he had been posing as a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual conversations with unidentified individuals who purported to be children aged between 13 and 15. During those chats, he sent indecent images of children.

During an examination of his equipment, police were able to identify a boy who Patterson had been sexually abusing and they contacted him and his family. He disclosed Patterson had shown him pornography and sexually abused him. He had also filmed the abuse and took pictures and threatened to show them.

The victim of the sexual abuse said in a statement about the impact of the offending: "When I saw him in court I thought he looked pathetic. He never looked up at me, he just kept his eyes facing down.

"I was the victim of numerous sexual assaults. I knew I had told the truth but the emotion of what would happen if he was found not guilty twisted my stomach."

The victim said it felt like he didn't have a proper childhood as a result of the abuse, coupled with threats, which he said were carried out by Patterson "for his own perverted pleasure" and had "reduced me to a shell".

He added: "Had the police not discovered what was going on I don't know if I would have been able to speak out.

"It's affected every aspect of my life. He almost destroyed me. I want to be a psychologist to help other people like me to know there's a way out of abuse."

His dad added that he had "watched his son's life fall to pieces before my eyes".

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Judge Mallett said Patterson has caused severe harm to the victim and that the damage has only recently started to mend. She added: "The offences were planned and force was used, together with threats and blackmail."

Patterson was convicted by a jury of two counts of rape, two of sexual activity with a child and sexual activity in the presence of a child. He pleaded guilty to making, taking and distributing indecent images and attempted sexual communication offences.

He was jailed for a total of 15 years and must sign the sex offenders register for life.

Liam O'Brien, defending, said Patterson "has prospects in his life going forward". The court heard he lacks maturity, has "some issues with neurodivergence and some developmental and learning problems" and has fibromyalgia, ADHD and potentially autism.

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