A PAEDOPHILE who contacted hundreds of girls as young as 12 across the world through online chatrooms has been jailed. 

Benjamin Toop, 28, from Shanklin Road, Brighton, was sentenced to six years and eight months imprisonment after he groomed girls online and talked them into performing sex acts. 

After an investigation by Sussex Police's online investigation team, Toop's address was searched and his computer seized.

The force said they found he had been "systematically engaging teenage girls in indecent conversation and activity on line". 

All the charges relate to one girl aged either 14 or 15 from the United States who he chatted with online.

He was in contact with the girl for several months as he groomed her and encouraged her to undress and engage in sexual activity. 

The other girls he was in contact with could not be traced but some of them gave their ages as young as 12 and Toop asked them for pictures of themselves. 

On Friday at Chichester Crown Court Toop admitted three offences of making indecent images, four offences of distributing indecent images, four offences of attempting to engage a young girl in indecent activity on-line and four offences of inciting a young girl to engage in sexual activity on-line.

Detective Constable Chris Smith said: "This case sends a further message that people who engage in this type of activity can and will be detected and brought to justice."