AN EX-POLICE worker used an online chat room to view indecent images of children and invited others to watch him abuse his fictional eight-year-old nephew.

David Gunn, 55, who lived in Chipping Norton when he committed the offences in 2015, was convicted of five counts of making indecent images of children at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday.

Gunn, of Bull Street, Stratford Upon Avon, Warwickshire, worked at a front enquiry office for Thames Valley Police and accessed the chat room twice, inviting users to watch him abuse his fictional nephew on the second occasion.

He claimed he intended to trap other users and report them to police, but did not take notes of this activity, or report anything to law enforcement.

National Crime Agency officers arrested Gunn on June 9, 2016 on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.

Investigators found Gunn’s online persona ‘smokepig’ was present in an online chat room on June 22, 2015 where pre-recorded child sexual abuse was being streamed.

Further forensic examinations of his electronic devices showed he visited the same chat room in August 2015 and invited other users to watch him abuse his fictional nephew.

The jury at Reading Crown Court returned a unanimous verdict and Gunn will be sentenced on November 16.

Graham Ellis, NCA operations manager, said: “Gunn was logged into the online chat room at the time the pre-recorded images were being streamed, showing his interest in viewing such material.

“He claimed he invented an eight-year-old to trap other online users in the same chat room, but didn’t provide us with any evidence this was his plan, and didn’t subsequently report it to police.

“With the rise of digital technology, sharing images and moving footage has never been easier, whether that be on the dark web, or on more conventional social media websites.

“Offenders think they won’t be found. They are wrong.”