Female paedophile said she was 'monster' for collecting stash of child porn and grooming girl

A female paedophile who described herself as a "monster" amassed a huge stash of child pornography and groomed a girl that was under 16 has been jailed.

Michaela Sheldrake took 365 indecent pictures of the girl, who was under 16, and sent some of them onto a man, Leeds Crown Court heard.

The 41-year-old admitted nine offences which included two charges of taking indecent photographs of a child - three of the images were classed as category B and 353 were category C.

She also admitted two charges of making indecent photographs of a young boy in connection with two images classified in category A, the most serious category, and five in category B.

Sheldrake, of Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, admitted one charge of inciting a girl aged under 16 to engage in sexual activity and one charge of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a girl under 16.

She also admitted distributing indecent photographs of a child and attempting to pervert the course of justice by encouraging a child to provide false information to police, reported the Mirror Online.

Police discovered that the defendant had 2,578 indecent images and 110 movies of children on a mobile phone.

Despite admitting the charges Judge Sally Cahill told Sheldrake that she had "not shown any proper remorse" and Sheldrake was jailed for a total of seven years.

Speaking after the case, a relative said according to BBC News that the girl had been "left serving a life sentence" and the defendant should be "behind bars for the rest of her life".

Defending Sheldrake, Catherine Silverton, told the court that her client had no previous convictions and was ashamed of herself.

"Nobody hates her as much as herself. She described herself as a monster," she said.

Jailing Sheldrake, Cahill said: "It is said on your behalf that you have shown remorse. I have to say that, having read reports and reviewed the evidence, there is no real evidence of that in relation to your victims.

"You have realised the consequences of your behaviour and the consequences are severe. In my view you have not shown any real remorse."