A TEACHING assistant who admitted attempting to groom a pupil online has been jailed for 18 months.

Matthew Settle, who worked as a special support assistant at Castlebrook High School until he resigned in June, created two fake Facebook accounts in order to contact the 13-year-old boy.

Bolton Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Settle, aged 26, had “begged” the child to send him intimate pictures of himself while posing as another 13-year-old boy. He also posed as an 18-year-old.

The victim cannot be named for legal reasons.

Settle was convicted of inciting the boy to engage in sexual activity and, in doing so, abusing a position of trust. He also admitted charges of incitement to make indecent photographs of a child, and six counts of possessing indecent photographs.

After police seized a computer and other devices from his home in Sunnybank Road, Bury, earlier this year, they found around 6,300 images of child pornography. Of those, 166 fell under the most serious category A rating.

Judge Graeme Smith told him: “You have pleaded guilty to offences that would horrify most right-thinking people and you have been unable to provide any explanation as to why you have this sexual interest in children, particularly boys aged 10 to 12.

“There must have been some degree of targeting involved. He [the pupil] was groomed by being led to believe he was communicating with two separate people, one of which was his own age.

“This represents a serious escalation in the level of offending. There is a tension between the court’s need to punish offences that are this serious and the court’s need to try and prevent re-offending.

“However, this matter is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.”

Prosecuting, Gavin Howie said: “Although there was no direct contact, the child would have been known to Settle.

“As a result of the friendship request sent on Facebook, the child posted an image to the younger of the two people he thought he was dealing with.

“He was dealing with what he thought was a close friend, if not a best friend.”

Defending, Iain Simpkin said: “He [Settle] is of good character. This is the first time he has been before the courts, the first time he has been involved with the police or been to prison. I trust from what he has told me that it will be his last.

“He has not touched anybody, he has not graduated from online activity to real life activity. I accept that there must have been some level of planning for the Facebook accounts to be constructed, but that was a remote rather than direct offence.”

Settle was sentenced to eight months in prison for possessing indecent images, in addition to 10 months on the count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and, in doing so, abusing a position of trust.

He was also given a five-year sexual prevention order, and will be placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

After the hearing, Detective Inspector Tony Tighe, from Greater Manchester Police’s Bury Division, said: “Settle built up fake relationships between his profiles, which he pretended were brothers. One of the people he befriended was an unsuspecting pupil whom he chatted to over Facebook. Settle encouraged him to begin a relationship with his fake sister and send inappropriate photos of himself for her.

“Settle was a predator who tricked young boys into befriending him online, causing particular distress to the one boy who he manipulated into conversing with him inappropriately. He also possessed a large amount of indecent photographs of children for his own sexual gratification.

“He broke the trust of the pupil and the school he worked at and today he has been rightly sentenced for his crimes.”

A Bury Council spokesman said: “It is always a very serious matter when a school employee is accused of offences such as these, which is why it is so important that the council and the school have robust procedures in place to safeguard children.

“When these allegations came to light, Settle was suspended from duty immediately pending the police investigation. He resigned, and was referred to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

“While Settle has now been brought to justice, it is reassuring that such cases are extremely rare, and we will continue to take all possible steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our young people.”