Sonia Chivers from Driffield discussed plans to abuse child

Sonia Chivers, 29, of Driffield, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison at Hull Crown Court today for multiple child sex offences that she pleaded guilty to.

This included, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13 and two counts of making and distributing indecent images of children.

National Crime Agency (NCA) officers arrested Chivers in December 2020 after it was discovered she had been discussing her plans to abuse a child online. 

She had joined a group of a message platform a month before that, which was created for those with a sexual interest in childred aged four and under.

National Crime Agency (NCA) (Image: National Crime Agency (NCA))

Her mobile phone was seized by NCA officers and they recovered two videos from it.

These showed Chivers performing a sexual act in front of a young child (Category B).

They also recovered an indecent image of a child (Category C) that Chivers had taken herself.

Indecent images of children are categorised from A to C.

Category A is the worst level and includes images of children which involve penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal, or sadism.

Category B includes images of children which involve non-penetrative sexual activity, while Category C includes footage which does not fall into the other categories.

Chivers said she did not know how she ended up in the online group, when interviewed.

But claimed she stayed because she liked the attention she was getting from other users.

The 29-year-old also admitted to sending one of the videos and the photo of the child via private chats and that in doing so, she had "fed these predators".

Chivers was also subjected to a Sexual Harm Prevent Order and has been placed on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely, alongside her prison sentence.

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.”