“Are you alone? What are you wearing? Show me.”

These are just some of the messages sent from a 30-year-old man, using a fake online profile, to a 12-year-old boy.

He then sent the child an image of male genitalia and a sexual video, before pressuring them to respond with explicit photos of themselves.

The man was usuing Kik – a social media messaging app – posing as a woman in her 20s called ‘Molly’.

But on this occasion, he wasn’t the only one using a fake profile. The 12-year-old boy he thought he was grooming was really an undercover law enforcement operative working to catch online paedophiles.

On Friday , January 16, Joseph De Souza, aged 32, of West Molesey, was sentenced to 13 years in prison and given a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order after pleading guilty to 53 offences including multiple counts of causing a child to watch a sexual act and sexual communication with a child.

After the explicit exchange, De Souza was swiftly arrested, and all his electronic devices were seized revealing the full extent of his offending.

Whilst some of his young victims have been identified by police, work remains on-going to identify others from the images he procured from them through extensive online grooming.

Detective Sergeant Stephen Bosel, from Surrey Police’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “The victims in this case will be forever changed by what they were exposed to at a young age and asked to do by this offender.

“This case serves as another warning that if you have never seen the person you are talking to online in real life – they may not be who you think they are - especially if you are being pressured to share content that makes you uncomfortable or is sexual in nature.

“It is so important that we continue educating young people about the dangers of talking to strangers - both in the real world and in their interactions online - and have those open conversations with them about what is and isn’t appropriate content to share with someone.”

Surrey Police have a dedicated Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) who work to protect children and young people from becoming victims of these types of offences.

For more information and advice about what parents and carers can do around online safety for young people visit here.