Martin Thompson

Martin Thompson, 42, of Sunderland, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court where he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Thompson pleaded guilty to seven offences, including attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and possessing indecent images and videos of children.

The court heard that Thompson was apprehended following an undercover Northumbria Police operation in which an officer posed as a 14-year-old boy on Snapchat. Following his arrest in June 2025, investigators discovered 220 indecent images of children on his electronic devices, including 134 classified in the most serious category. Evidence also revealed that Thompson had been distributing these images to others online.

Judge Thomas Moran remarked on the depraved nature of the material found and noted that Thompson posed a high risk of serious harm to children. In addition to his custodial sentence, Thompson is required to sign the sex offender register and is subject to a new sexual harm prevention order. The court also noted that his actions were in breach of a previous sexual offences prevention order imposed in 2005.