Yorkshire woman ‘liked the attention’ she received producing child sexual abuse material for online ‘predators’

3 October 2022, 17:28 | Updated: 3 October 2022, 17:30

A Yorkshire woman has been jailed after she admitted producing child sexual abuse material, before sharing it with online “predators”.

Sonia Chivers, 29, from Driffield, East Yorkshire, was identified by National Crime Agency officers after discussing her plans to sexually abuse children online.

One month earlier, in November 2020, she was found to have joined a group on a messaging platform for those expressing a sexual interest in children aged four and under.

Admitting she “liked the attention” she'd received after sharing the content with the online community, Chivers claims not to know how she initially came across the group.

Today she was today sentenced to three years and four months in prison at Hull Crown Court.

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She is also subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and has been placed on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely.

Officers discovered three pieces of incriminating evidence upon seizing Chivers mobile phone – two videos of Chivers performing a sexual act in front of a young child and an indecent image of a child taken by Chivers herself.

She subsequently admitted to sending one of the videos and the photo using private messaging chats, in doing so acknowledging she had "fed these predators".

Hazel Stewart from the National Crime Agency said: “Sonia Chivers claimed she generated child abuse material as she liked the attention, and in her own words, she “fed” the demand for this content by sharing it with others.

“This, in addition to engaging in very explicit online conversations about the sexual abuse of children, is behaviour that encourages others to commit abuse themselves and puts children in danger.

“Identifying, arresting and bringing to justice those who pose a sexual threat to children is a top priority for the NCA. We work with a range of partners within law enforcement to ensure offenders are disrupted and children are safeguarded.”