A MAN who sexually abused a six-year-old girl has been jailed.

David Graham Bailey, aged 25, of Black Chapel Street, Tottington, also stored thousands of indecent images of children on his laptop with a view to share them with other sex offenders across the world.

He pleaded guilty of seven counts of making indecent photographs of children, six counts of possession of indecent images with a view to distributing them, and sexual assault at an earlier hearing.

On Friday, May 13, Bailey was sentenced to four and a half years at Bolton Crown Court.

He has also been given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and has been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for ten years. He has been disqualified from working with children for life.

On April 15 last year, the New Zealand Online Child Protection Team - which targets online sex offenders - received intelligence that a user called "twistedluvr1" was sharing indecent images and videos of children.

Over a 19-minute period, at least 3,500 images were shared and a number of images downloaded.

The users Internet Protocol address was registered to a man in Bury.

In July 2010, the team arrested an online sex offender and seized his computer. Analysis discovered he was sharing indecent images with six UK residents, including one with the usernames bi-pedo, bi-pedo2 and kiddyfiddler. Further investigation established these usernames were registered to the same man and address in Bury.

In September 2010, Greater Manchester Police carried out a warrant at the address, and discovered Bailey was a former caretaker and had been known to use his personal laptop in the building.

GMP's Sexual Crime Unit continued their investigation and tracked Bailey to his home.

He was arrested and his laptop was seized. Analysis revealed thousands of indecent images of children, including babies and children both boys and girls, defining the abuse by category and numerous references to the usernames bi-pedo, bi-pedo2, kiddyfiddler and twisterluvr1.

The team also discovered chatroom logs that indicated he had abused a child and when officers looked into this, they identified a six-year-old girl that disclosed Bailey had sexually assaulted her.

DC Ciara Kilcommons, of the Sexual Crime Unit, said: "People like Bailey, who use the Internet to download and share indecent images of children, fuel the child sex abuse trade and create a market from which other sex offenders profit.

"Clearly he is a dangerous individual and the only appropriate punishment is a stint in prison.

"I hope this case sends out a strong message to those who think they can hide behind a computer screen looking and making these images that Greater Manchester Police work very closely with agencies all over the world to track down and pursue sex offenders and bring them before the courts.

"Thanks to the sophisticated technology we have in our High-Tech Crime Unit and the sheer dedicated of our officers, we will leave no stone unturned to unearth evidence of those who use the Internet to commit these awful crimes and there will be no hiding place for criminals like Bailey."

Anyone who has been a victim of rape or sexual assault can contact Greater Manchester Police on 0161 872 5050 or 999 in an emergency. GMP has specially trained officers in place to provide a first class response to victims and help support them through the criminal justice process.

St Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Manchester, can also be contacted on 0161 276 6515. This provides a comprehensive and coordinated forensic, counselling and medical aftercare service to anyone in Greater Manchester who has experienced rape or sexual assault. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and people can access them either as a self-referral or via Greater Manchester Police.