An internet child porn offender has been exposed after disgusted burglars who stole his computer reported his crimes to police.
Richard Coverdale, from North Yorkshire in northern England, has now been jailed after admitting to downloading 78 illegal images.
The 24-year-old also confessed to creating a false online identity a 14-year-old character named "Danny" with whom he used to chat with teenage girls.
In one disturbing act, Coverdale filmed himself performing a sex act and sent the video to an unsuspecting 14-year-old girl.
She told police she felt degraded and humiliated and had since harmed herself.
Coverdale's crimes were uncovered after thieves stole his laptop from his home on August 19 last year.
After uncovering the illegal images, they were moved to contact police, the local newspaper Evening Gazette reported.
Durham Crown Court's Judge Brian Forster said Coverdale had conducted a calculated scam against the girl, who had the right to safety while using the internet.
Coverdale was sentenced last week to three-and-a-half years imprisonment and was banned from working with children for life.
It is not his first prison sentence.
Coverdale spent four years in a young offenders' institution in 2003 for an arson spree in which he set fire to five houses in one night.
He had also been convicted for fraud after forging a series of cheques, including drunkenly submitting one worth for 500,000 pounds ($A983,000) at an ATM.
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