A paedophile who used artificial intelligence (AI) while trying to blackmail girls into sending him explicit images has had his prison sentence increased.
Neil Darlington, 52, was jailed for one year at Stoke Crown Court in June after using AI to manipulate images of fully clothed girls into sexually explicit pictures and threatening to send the images to the children’s family and friends.
In reality, the children were decoys created by police officers, but Darlington pleaded guilty to 10 offences, including making indecent images of children and blackmailing two girls he believed were aged 11 and 14, who he thought he had met in an online chat room.
His sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General, who argued it was “unduly lenient”.
Three judges decided on Wednesday to increase the term from one to three years and place him on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Lord Justice Bean, sitting alongside Mrs Justice Cutts and Mr Justice Murray, said while a “modest reduction can be made for the fact the two children did not exist”, that was “balanced out by the need, in our view, to add to the sentence to reflect the lesser offences, including the indecent photographs from a considerable period and of a considerable quantity”.
Suki Dhadda, representing the Solicitor General, added Darlington “persisted in his demands and paid no regard to their [the children’s] pleas and expressions of fear”, even though they were not real.
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Robert Holt, representing Darlington, argued although the sentence “might seem lenient, it is not unduly lenient”.
He told the court time in custody had been a “salutary lesson” for Darlington and his imprisonment came at a time of “overcrowding” in prisons.
“Having had this sentence of imprisonment, the effects on this individual have been far greater on him than others who are more criminally inclined,” he said.
