A West Cumbrian man has been jailed for 26 child sex crimes.
Ryan Cruden, 25, of Chapel Street, Egremont, admitted the offences and was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court.
Cruden has been sentenced to nine years in prison with three years to be served on licence, for numerous offences including sexual communication with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, making indecent images and distributing indecent images.
He was also made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and has ben placed on the sex offenders register.
The offences were committed against 20 victims aged from eight to 14, from 2022 to 2024.
Cruden’s offending came to light after an external law enforcement agency contacted Cumbria police to report indecent images being accessed at Cruden’s home address.
A raid was carried out in May 2024 and Cruden’s mobile device was examined at scene by officers who identified category A and B indecent images.
He was arrested and other devices were seized from the address for further investigation.
On those devices officers identified a photo messaging app account.
The account, linked to Cruden’s details was using the account under a female identity asking his victims to send indecent images.
This account was found on the devices of the identified victims.
In July, Cruden was further arrested for indecent image offences and inciting a child after the photo messaging account was accessed and attempted to add a victim’s new account.
His home address was searched, and a mobile phone was seized. Data found he had accessed the account after his arrest at IP addresses linked to him and also in Greece while on holiday.
Detective Constable Sarah Aiston, of the Cyber and Digital Crime Unit, said “Cruden poses a significant risk to children. He has sexually communicated with vulnerable children, ranging in age from eight to 14 years old.
“He went to great lengths to conceal his offending, posing behind a fake account, pretending to be a teenage girl with the sole purpose of inciting children to engage in sexual activity, coercing them into sending indecent images of themselves and communicating with them in a sexual manner.
“Cruden then distributed the images he received of the children to other people and used these images to cause further harm.
“Offences of this nature can have a lasting impact on the victims involved. I would like to thank the victims in this case for their courage in speaking to the police and would like to extend those thanks to their families who have supported the investigation and have also been deeply affected by what has occurred.
“We are committed to proactively targeting individuals who view and share child sexual abuse images, as well as those who communicate inappropriately with children online.
“I would encourage anyone who has been victim of a sexual offence to contact police so that our officers can investigate. Your report will be dealt with sensitively and professionally.”
