A Congleton man who forced an 11-year-old child to engage in sexual communications has been jailed.

Joshua Brookes appeared at Chester Crown Court on Thursday, February 19, where he was sentenced to four and a half years' imprisonment.

The sentencing comes after the 21-year-old, of Vaudrey Crescent in Congleton, admitted to four counts of inciting a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity and two counts of making indecent images of a child.

Detective Constable Anna Hull, of CID Reactive North, said: "Firstly, I would like to commend the victim in this case, whose help has been invaluable in securing this conviction against Joshua Brookes.

"Despite her young age, the bravery and courage she has shown in coming forward and speaking to police about the ordeal has been nothing short of inspiring.

"Brookes used fear and intimidation to manipulate his victim, a vulnerable child, making her feel guilty for not wanting to feed into his warped sexual fantasies.

"I am very glad to see that he has been handed a lengthy custodial sentence, which will, hopefully, allow the victim in this case and her family to begin to move on from this extremely alarming incident.

"Even when Brookes is eventually released from prison in 2030, he will be under continual monitoring under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, ensuring he will never cause harm to another vulnerable child again."

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Brookes, 21 and of Vaudrey Crescent in Congleton (Credit: Cheshire Police)

The court heard that officers from Cheshire Police's Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) had been investigating reports of online sexual activity between an 18-year-old man and a child.

On Tuesday 30 July 2024, OCAIT officers arrested Brookes and subsequently seized a number of digital devices belonging to him.

These devices—a phone and a laptop—were inspected by digital forensic teams, who uncovered a series of threatening messages that had been sent to the victim.

The messages showed that Brookes pressured the girl into sending him sexualised images of herself.

He went on to tell the child that if she stopped sending images, he would share them with people she knew, and he even threatened to harm himself and sexually assault her.

Across Brookes' devices, nearly 30 indecent images were found.

Officers later identified the victim as an 11-year-old girl, who confirmed to them that Brookes had forced her to send the images and had made a number of threats towards her if she stopped.

In his interview with police, Brookes gave no comment to all questions and allegations put to him.

Despite his refusal to provide his side of the story or defend himself, Brookes was subsequently charged with the offences.

Alongside his custodial sentence, Brookes has also been made the subject of a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.