Man jailed after grooming children on Snapchat

A man who groomed children over Snapchat and paid them for indecent images has been jailed.

Ian Della-Rocca, 39, of Wilson Road in Chessington, was arrested after a person he was sexting - and who he thought was a 14-year-old girl - turned out to be a Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary police officer.

Investigators later discovered he had been speaking to real children on Snapchat and had about 1,200 indecent images of children on his phone.

He was sentenced to six years and eight months at Southampton Crown Court on Friday after admitting 18 offences.

Della-Rocca, who at the time was living in North Baddesley, Hampshire, engaged in sexual conversations with children from January 2023 until his arrest in November 2024, police said.

Officers identified three teenage girls across the UK who he paid money to in exchange for indecent pictures and videos.

He even met a 15-year-old girl and took her to school.

PC Ollie Green, from the internet child abuse team, said: "The relentlessness of Della-Rocca's offending is really shocking.

"He persistently targeted young girls online, going as far as to pay them to provide him with indecent images.

"Della-Rocca groomed and exploited these children for his own perverse gratification, and it is clear he poses a serious risk to children.

"The girls have been incredibly brave in speaking to police about Della-Rocca's behaviour, and it is because of them that we were able to secure so many criminal charges against him."

The charges include possession of indecent images of children, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child to watch or look at an image of sexual activity, distributing an indecent image of a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, paying for the sexual services of a child aged 13 to 15, and attempting to meet a child following grooming.

Della-Rocca was also ordered to sign onto the Sex Offenders Register for life, and was given a 15-year sexual harm prevention order.

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