A paedophile who targeted children across the globe has been locked up for more than 10 years.

Jonathan Martin filmed himself committing a number of sexual assaults against a boy as well as explicitly messaging youngsters in the US and Finland.

The 35-year-old, of Lett Lane, Swanscombe, was arrested after Kent Police’s investigators were alerted about indecent images of children he had uploaded to the internet in May last year.

Officers searched his home and found four mobile phones and a tablet under the kickboard in the kitchen.

When they visited again in July to arrest him, Martin could be seen throwing his laptop from the balcony and two more phones were found hidden inside cereal boxes and a toaster along with other devices.

Numerous videos and images were found of him sexually assaulting a young child, who has since been identified and safeguarded.

Officers also found sexual conversations with other victims, some as young as 10, where Martin had encouraged them to engage in sexual acts, send him pictures and to meet with him.

‘Jonathan Martin is a very real danger to society...’

On one occasion it was established that Martin had arranged to meet a child in a park but he was late and the child had to leave.

The police worked together with Homeland Security Investigations and shared information regarding children living in the US, whom Martin had been offending against online.

All identified children were visited and safeguarded by US authorities. Through other work with Interpol, a child in Finland who Martin had been in contact with was also safeguarded.

In total, the sex offender had 162 videos on his devices – of which 59 were of the most serious Category A. A further 1,095 images were found including 175 Category A.

Martin was charged with a total of 32 child sex offences including rape, sexual assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, making indecent images and others.

He pleaded guilty to all but two of the offences and on Monday, November 6, at Woolwich Crown Court, he was sentenced to ten and half years in prison. He will also serve another year on licence.

Martin was also placed on the sex offenders register for life and issued with a lifelong sexual harm prevention order.

Detective constable Michelle James, of the paedophile online investigation team, said: “Jonathan Martin is a very real danger to society and I am certain he would have abused more children had we not been alerted to his offending. I would like to commend the child victim who was sexually abused by him for having the courage to speak with investigators.

“This case serves as a reminder that the online world is a public one and it is important everyone understands the risks.”

Detective inspector Robert Grieve added: “This sentencing shows that Kent Police works hard with partner organisations to target offenders who are using the internet to exploit young children.

“This type of offending knows no borders but this case shows there are also no boundaries when it comes to safeguarding children and identifying perpetrators.”