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A man has been jailed for nine years after using Snapchat to pose as a 15-year-old boy and commit a raft of online sexual offences against children.

Matthew Reilly, from Halesowen, Dudley, was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court having pleaded guilty to 34 offences.

The 38-year-old received his nine-year prison sentence for one count of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, with concurrent sentences for other crimes involving minors.

West Midlands Police said officers started investigating Reilly last year and had identified 40 victims across the UK.

The force added its inquiry into Reilly, who was a registered sex offender, began after an indecent image of a child was uploaded to Snapchat and traced to an account linked to him.

His electronic devices were then seized and analysed after police searched his home.

Police said Reilly’s phone contained details of a Snapchat account he had been using to pose as a 15-year-old boy, and showed communications of a sexual nature involving girls aged between 11 and 15.

That messaging was carried out between October 2021 and January 2022.

Police analysis also showed that Reilly met some minors on an online dating site.

He was sentenced on 27 June after pleading guilty to 34 offences in February.

They included 18 counts of sexual communication with a child, eight counts of making an indecent image of a child, and five counts of causing a child to watch a sexual act.

The remainder of an original 52 counts against him, for which there was no verdict, are to lie on file.

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