Paedophile filmed girlfriend carrying out sex act with dog and fantasised about having children so he could rape them

Leeds Crown Court heard officers found footage which Townsend had filmed of his partner carrying out a sex act with a dog.

The court heard they also got a 13-year-old girl to expose herself.Townsend was jailed for three years and eight months after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images.

Townsend, now of Rookhill Road, Pontefract, came to the attention of police when it was discovered he had shared five indecent images on Kik Messenger.

Police attended his then home on Selby Road, Leeds, on February 15, 2018 and seized electronic devices.

Townsend's girlfriend, who was not charged with any offences and was not named in court, was present during the raid.

Police found 1,949 indecent images and videos. A total of 357 were at category A - the most serious level of offending.

There were also three extreme pornographic videos, one of which showed females having sex with a dog and one of which involved a child aged between 10 and 14.

Christopher Moran, prosecuting, said a third video showed his girlfriend with the dog.

Another video showed the couple speaking to an underage girl on Skype.

The court was told Townsend's girlfriend asked the girl to expose her breasts, which she did.

Mr Moran said Townsend's girlfriend, who was 18 at the time, provided a witness statement in which she said the couple have been in a relationship since she was aged 16 and any photos or videos of her found on the devices had been consensual.

She also said in the statement that sometimes they would have sex dressed in animal costumes, sometimes Townsend would ask her to dress up as a schoolgirl and he had fantasies of the two of them having children together for the purposes of raping them.

Townsend, now of Rookhill Road, Pontefract, has no previous convictions.

Michael Walsh, mitigating, said Townsend had pleaded guilty to the offences at an early stage.

Townsend was told he must go on the sex offender register for life.