An aspiring lawyer who groomed 12-year-old girls has been jailed and his career shattered.

Joshua Butt, 23, posed as a teenage boy to elicit sexual images from two children - then told police he thought they were over 18.

The Legal Practice Course student’s twisted secret surfaced when officers interrogated his phone in connection with an unrelated matter in 2017.

A court heard Butt befriended one girl on an internet chat room, however, his conversation became lurid when they moved on to WhatsApp.

When the child invited her friend to the chat, Butt would request numerous gruesome pictures that were described in court.

Prosecutor Dominic Connolly said the children were pre-pubescent and Butt requested at least one of them to perform a sexual act.

“Mr Butt was arrested on January 23, in interview he confirmed the seized phone was his and he was the only user.

“Asked about the images he put in a prepared statement saying his Asperger Syndrome and dyspraxia makes it hard to identify other people’s ages,” he said.

“He said he thought they were over 18.”

But he changed his basis of plea at Canterbury Crown Court today to admit “he knew their ages were significantly below 16.”

His sister could be seen crying in the public gallery as Mr Connolly described the 12 charges which included, grooming, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and possession of indecent images.

Mitigating, Kathy Hirst argued Butt groomed the girls, who live around east Kent, for “a relatively limited amount of time” and they didn’t suffer.

She added Butt had become alienated from society after a traumatic childhood and he self medicated with alcohol, being the sole carer for his unwell mother.

“This isn’t someone who sought out young girls it is something that happened to him.”

Now, Butt, of Hillcrest Road in Walthamstow, has been jailed for three years, his internet usage will be closely monitored on release.

Judge Simon James said he accepted Butt’s Aspergers diagnosis and understood how he became socially isolated.

But the judge shot down his claims that he believed the girls were over 18 and highlighted his aspirations to practice law were shattered.

“I am afraid that your diagnosis can not completely explain your sexual interest in children,” he said.

“Although throughout the process you have steadfastly maintained that you believed you were interacting with adults, I’m afraid that assertion flies in the face of evidence.

“Not only is it obvious from the pictures of the two girls that were sent to you that both were well under 18.

“But the fact that when one asked for a picture of you, you sent a picture of a 14-year-old boy speaks volumes.”

A further nine charges will lie on file and Butt will be subjected to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order upon his release.

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