The police today welcomed the extended jail sentence meted out to predatory paedophile Geoffrey Rooney who was imprisoned at Bradford Crown Court this morning.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Woodhead, head of Safeguarding at Bradford Police, said: “Rooney is a dangerous sexual predator who went to extreme lengths in order to try and conceal his activities and intentions to cause serious harm to children.

“This case was very distressing and this type abuse was the worst that the team had ev-er seen.

“The crimes he pleaded guilty to represent a high volume of images – many of the most serious kind.

“Through working with our partners we were able to stop him from causing further harm to children.

“I welcome the lengthy sentence given today, there is no hiding place for offenders like Rooney who commit these abhorrent crimes.

“We treat all offences of this nature seriously and we will continue to do everything we can to safeguard children.”

Detective Inspector Andy Buckthorpe, of North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “We welcome the lengthy sentence of Rooney today and hope communities feel reassured that this dangerous sexual predator is now behind bars.

“Here at the North West ROCU we have specialist officers who work tirelessly in part-nership with other UK forces, agencies and the Child Exploitation Online Protection Cen-tre to protect children from sexual exploitation and dangerous offenders such as Rooney.

“Law enforcement operates across the internet and we will use every tactic and techno-logical advancement available to ensure people cannot and do not get away with the terrible crimes they have committed.”