A Dundee man who groomed underage YouTubers into sending him sick photos while he was free on bail awaiting court on a child sex abuse images charge has been jailed.
Jed Cossans tried to convince a nine-year-old boy on the video streaming site to send him “pictures of your privates” just days before he was due to be sentenced for the original offence.
That came after he targeted two other children aged 11 and 12 on YouTube, where each of them had their own channels used to post videos of themselves.
A court heard Cossans was twice allowed to walk free on bail before targeting the kids.
He originally appeared in court charged with downloading indecent images of children and was granted bail, leaving him free to to target his first two YouTube victims.
Cossans was then charged with sex offences against the youngsters but again got bail, leaving him free to target the third child.
Despite facing three child sex abuse charges when he was sentenced for the original indecent images rap he was given a community sentence and again set free.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court that the first victim was 12 and was contacted by Cossans, who had seen a video the boy had posted in which he had exposed himself.
She said: “He went on to ask the complainer to call him and do a video call whilst naked saying ‘it would be kinda funny and sexy’.
“He asked the complainer again to send him nude videos and images, and images of his penis on four more occasions and at one point suggested that he should do it as a forfeit for not winning an online game.”
Miss Robertson said the second boy was just 11 and was contacted on video chat by Cossans, who said he would “give him fun challenges to do”.
He asked the child to take part in a number of sick “dares” involving the removal of items of clothing – including taking off his boxers “without taking the shorts off”.
She said: “To start with, the accused dared the complainer to see how many marshmallows he could fit into his mouth. The complainer declined to complete this dare.”
Miss Robertson said the third boy, aged just nine, was first contacted over Instagram, with Cossans posing as a 16-year-old girl.
She added: “He started to ask the complainer to send him photographs of himself, including repeatedly asking for him to take photographs of his penis, abs and buttocks.”
The boy, however, refused to comply.
Cossans, 23, of Arbroath Road, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to three charges of sending sexual written communications to children between June 24 and June 26 and on July 3 and 4 last year, and again between February 10 and February 12 last year.
Defence solicitor Ian Myles told the court Cossans had been assessed by social workers as being of a high risk of re-offending if his treatment was not continued.
He said he was around six to seven months into his current community payback order, adding that the author of the report into his previous offence believed he could become a valuable member of society if his order was allowed to continue.
Mr Myles said: “He leads quite an isolated and lonely, solitary lifestyle, with no friends.
“He spends most of his time in his room, playing games and lacks social skills.”
Sheriff Linda Smith jailed Cossans for 16 months and imposed a 20 month supervised release order meaning he will be monitored for that period upon his release. Cossans was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
