Forty-three year-old Jon Gordon was arrested after officers from our Police Online Investigation Team (POLIT) carried out a warrant at his address in Gershwin Boulevard, Witham in December 2018.
It followed information that he had been engaging in sexual communications with someone he believed was a 13 year-old child.
He was arrested and 33 items were seized. On five of those, officers found more than 1,200 indecent images and videos of child abuse.
They also found a total of 6,500 conversations on Skype with 900 contacts of young people. Among these, officers found evidence he had communicated with boys and girls under the age of 18.
He was charged with 45 child sexual offence offences including sexual communications with a child, inciting a child to perform sexual acts, and indecent images of children offences.
He admitted the offences at Chelmsford Crown Court on 24 February and, at the same court on 13 April, he was sentenced to a total of eight years in prison.
Detective Sergeant Samantha Lewin, from POLIT, said: “Jon Gordon is a dangerous sexual predator who sought out and preyed upon underage boys and girls for his own sexual gratification.
“He had a huge library of child abuse images and videos and the sheer number of charges he admitted to highlights the scale of his offending.
“I have no doubt Essex is a safer place now he is behind bars.”
