A PAEDOPHILE who sent indecent images of children via Whatsapp has avoided jail.

A court heard how police found images of “bestiality” and “moving images of children” after seizing devices belonging to Stavya Advait.

The 22-year-old, of Westwood Road in Southampton, was arrested under the name Vivek Kakiya after police caught him distributing the images that had been uploaded to his email at his address.

Some of the images were judged to be category A images – the most serious kind – while others fell under category C.

Prosecuting, Aleksander Lloyd told the court: “On June 29, 2020 Advait was arrested for possessing and distributing indecent images of children, one of which was sent via a Whatsapp group, and on February 6, 2019 a picture was sent to a contact.”

He was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of distributing indecent images of children.

Advait was also charged with one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image.

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Mitigating, Terry Pedro said Advait is “deeply ashamed”.

He told the court: “Mr Advait would like me to express to the court his extreme apology. He is deeply ashamed of this.

“He does appreciate the effect of this kind of offence. He will not be returning to court.”

Judge Rowland handed him a suspended sentence.

He said: “You pleaded guilty to five offences. You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.

“It is only because of people like you that those images are distributed and that children all around the world are abused day in and day out.”

He was given a total of eight months imprisonment suspended for two years.

Judge Rowland added: “You will have a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.

“You will have a 30 day rehabilitation, 180 hours unpaid work and you will register as a sex offender for 10 years.”

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