EXCLUSIVE by thisiscornwall chief reporter, Jonathan Carter.

A PAEDOPHILE who used the internet to repeatedly prey on children was today jailed for four years.

Adrian Charles Gray, 51, of Helston, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court this afternoon after earlier pleading guilty to 15 counts of inciting children to commit and to watch sexual acts online.

Judge Keith Thomas sentenced Gray to four years on one count and three and four years on two others, to be served concurrently.

Police said at least seven of the charges related to seven different youngsters while other charges involved him making and possessing indecent images of children.

One of the Devon and Cornwall Police team that tracked down Gray described him as a predatory paedophile who used the internet to exploit children for his own sexual gratification.

Detective Constable Sally Main, of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Child Exploitation and Online team, added: "Offenders should recognise that there is no rock they can hide under. They will be traced and prosecuted."

Police said officers began investigating Gray in July 2006 when they received information that two 14-year-old girls had been using software on a computer to "chat" to friends.

Someone else joined in the conversation and they initially thought it was a young person due to the nature of his "computer speak". But when he and the two girls began to use web cameras, they saw an adult naked on a bed engaging in sexual acts.

Police ran checks with the service provider and Gray was identified as the holder of the account, 'Legslover4u', that was being used by the offender.

In November 2006, officers from the child exploitation and online team arrested him at his home address. Several computers and associated media were seized in a search of the property.

They were taken to the force's hi-tech crime unit to be forensically examined. Thousands of images, mainly indecent and of young girls, were found to have been stored on the drives.

These were images of children with whom he had been chatting online. They had been taken by Gray with the webcam after he had persuaded the young girls to act upon his demands and fetishes.

Gray was charged in May this year and pleaded guilty at court in Swansea on July 18.

Speaking before today's sentencing, Det Con Main said: "This has been a careful two-year investigation by our team working with internet service providers, the hi-tech crime unit and the child exploitation and online protection centre.

"Part of the investigation included researching the history of chat conversations involving Gray and young girls which showed 3,000 contacts with girls under the age of 16.

"This demonstrates the fact that he was, and is, a predatory paedophile who used the internet to exploit children for his own sexual gratification. Some of the girls in the images have yet to be identified and our work continues along this line of inquiry.

"It is vital that parents take an interest in what their children are doing and to whom they are talking when online. If you haven't discussed internet safety with your children, do it today."

Parents seeking expert advice can log on to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre at www.ceop.gov.uk and the Internet Watch Foundation at www.iwf.org.uk