A 'depraved' paedophile snapped vile selfies while sexually abusing a young girl - then tried to pin the blame on an innocent man.
David Shepherd's campaign of abuse was discovered in 2021, when the National Crime Agency (NCA) was alerted to a number of online identities in chatrooms where users shared child pornography, the Liverpool Echo reports.
These identities were linked to Shepherd, who used the chatroom to boast about sexually abusing a child. Prosecutor Frank Dillon said 'these were not merely lurid fantasies', as Shepherd also shared a number of images of himself abusing the girl.
After the sickening pictures were found on his mobile phone, the 43-year-old 'sought to implicate' another man, a court heard. Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link. Shepherd was arrested in Birkenhead in August 2021.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk