A man who randomly sent thousands of pornographic mobile messages - many of them to children - has been jailed for four years and three months. Royce Roberts, 42, from Caernarfon, had admitted 15 offences of causing children to watch an indecent image.
Judge John Rogers QC told Roberts at Mold Crown Court he had risked causing the children "psychological damage".
Police said it was impossible to say how many messages he sent, but it is thought to run into tens of thousands.
Last Monday, the painter and decorator also admitted four offences of possessing indecent images of a child and another charge of causing a public nuisance by making unsolicited voice, text and video calls.
Simon Medland, prosecuting, said he sent pornographic images to randomly selected numbers using the latest generation of mobile phones.
"The defendant would make random calls, and when they were answered, he'd show explicit images and send explicit texts," he told the court.
"He would bribe his child victims, saying he would buy top-ups for their mobiles if they showed him their private parts and took a look at his.
"With one 14-year-old girl he indulged in an extensive course of calls, passing himself off as a 17-year-old boy called Kevin. He received explicit images of her and sent explicit images of himself to her."
'Aggravating factors'
Sentencing on Monday, Judge Rogers said it was a distressing experience for children and risked causing them psychological damage.
Referring to the defendant's pictures he had taken of a 14-year-old girl, the judge added: "You deceived her into believing that you were a teenager and then persuaded her to pose for you to photograph her in indecent poses some 45 times."
The judge said there were two "aggravating factors" in the case - firstly the age of the children, as 11 of them were aged 12 or less and one was a boy aged nine.
Secondly, the persistence of the defendant - as the offences took place over an eight-month period.
The offences began after Roberts looked at chat rooms following a relationship breakdown.
'Cutting edge'
Judge Rogers said that the fact that he had pleaded guilty was an important factor - as a result children would not have to give evidence.
In addition to the jail sentence, Roberts must not possess a mobile phone with a camera or video capability, he must not befriend anyone under 16, and he must not have unsupervised contact with children.
He is also banned from displaying any sexual explicit material to anyone in the future.
David Travers, defending, said while 32,800 calls had been made on three mobile phones, it could not be said how many were to adults or to children.
Some of the calls were ordinary calls made to friends, and it was clear that more than 5,000 calls were unsuccessful attempts to send images.
Detective Inspector Gerwyn Lloyd urged parents to supervise young children when they were using mobile phones and the internet.
"The phone is not the problem, it's at the cutting edge of technology. But it's the individual that used the technology, such as Mr Roberts - that's the problem."
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With one 14-year-old girl he indulged in an extensive course of calls, passing himself off as a 17-year-old boy called Kevin
