A 44-year-old man has been sentenced to four years in prison after being characterized by a judge as exhibiting predatory behavior toward children. The court was told that Steven Wilkinson had been collecting inappropriate imagery of minors over a period exceeding ten years.

His interest in children was discovered following online conversations with law enforcement officers who pretended to be teenage boys. The court was told that Wilkinson referred to one of the minors as being physically attractive after receiving an image of the child wearing school clothing.

When authorities searched his residence on Elmfield Drive in Bradford during March of the previous year, they took various electronic devices containing nearly 350 inappropriate images of children.

The prosecutor stated that the material had been obtained between 2013 and March 2025 and depicted the sexual exploitation of infants as well as older minors. Evidence indicated that Wilkinson had participated in discussions about child exploitation in online communities and had shared material with a minimum of 14 other users or groups.

The court heard that Wilkinson had transmitted more than 300 files containing content depicting varying degrees of exploitation to a single user.

It was revealed that Wilkinson had no prior criminal record, though in 2013 he received a caution for behavior that outraged public decency.

Wilkinson acknowledged guilt on two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, three counts of sharing inappropriate images of children, and three counts of possessing such material.

His counsel stated that Wilkinson had acknowledged the danger he presented and was eager to receive assistance from the probation service.

However, the presiding judge noted that Wilkinson had entered guilty pleas to eight serious sexual offenses.

The judge stated that the creation, possession, and distribution of inappropriate imagery of children are not crimes without victims. He explained that such material represents a digital record of the sexual exploitation of actual children, with each image possessed or distributed serving as a permanent record of degradation and harm inflicted upon vulnerable individuals. The psychological impact on these victims lasts throughout their lives.

The judge observed that the audio from videos captured real children experiencing genuine harm. He noted that Wilkinson had contributed to demand in a corrupt marketplace by distributing such material, with his crimes being worsened by their extended duration and organized nature. The offenses were further aggravated by Wilkinson’s attempts to act out his desires by communicating with individuals he believed to be 14-year-old boys.

The judge concluded that Wilkinson had been actively seeking to groom, manipulate, and ultimately commit sexual offenses against actual children.

Wilkinson will now be required to register as a sex offender with police indefinitely and must adhere to the conditions of a sexual harm prevention order for the next two decades.

His early admission of guilt at the magistrates court resulted in his sentence being reduced from the potential six-year term to four years.