FOOTAGE of a 15-year-old girl posing sexually while showering came to light amid police inquiries after she was reported missing from home.

Police in Durham visited a property in Bowburn in response to a request from the girl’s concerned family in the south of England.

Durham Crown Court, sitting at Newcastle, was told it transpired she was with defendant Philip Oliver, then aged 37, after he collected her from her home address and drove her back to Bowburn.

Phillip Morley, prosecuting, said the girl, then aged 16, was found at his home in Prince Charles Avenue when police called in the early hours of December 8, 2017.

Oliver told police he met her via communication on Xbox during which she informed him she was going through a difficult time at home and did not want to remain there.

He said he collected her, so she could stay with him.

Oliver said he knew she was then 16, but claimed they were not in a relationship.

Mr Morley said police seized six electronic devices as part of the inquiry and it emerged the girl had previously been to Oliver’s home.

Footage was found on his phone in which he could be seen in a mirror reflection filming the girl as she was showering naked, months earlier, when she was 15.

Oliver asked her to pose sexually, which she did, and they discussed having had sex, but he told her to say she was 16, so she could not be taken from him.

He referred to himself as her “master” and she was his “slave”, and an item was found on his computer titled: “Rules for slave ******”, while further sexual images of her were recovered, possibly taken when she was 16.

Mr Morley said the girl refused to assist the prosecution, restricting the offences brought against Oliver.

The former IT worker, now 40, admitted causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of making an indecent image of a child, possessing a prohibited image of a child and possessing extreme pornography, plus one of distributing an indecent photo of a child.

David Lamb, mitigating, said when Oliver first encountered the girl via Xbox he believed she was aged 18, and was, “not preying” on an underage girl, but in time he became aware of her age.

Mr Lamb said she agreed to be picked up by Oliver, adding: “She wasn’t kidnapped, snatched or, in any way, taken against her will.”

He said since 2011 Oliver has been in a fragile mental state and a psychiatrist believes his disorder may have “disinhibited” his behaviour.

Judge Ray Singh said whatever Oliver’s view, his actions only constituted a form of sexual abuse.

He imposed a 32-month prison sentence, and made Oliver subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years, plus registration as a sex offender, for life.