A student has been jailed for distributing extreme child pornography after he messaged other offenders claiming he wanted “no teens – only babies”.

Police said that Ethan Payne, 19, of Tollington Road, who studied microbiology and worked part-time in a bakery, was found to possess more than 900 indecent images.

An investigation uncovered that Payne interacted with other offenders online – sharing experiences, fantasies and extreme pornography.

At one point, Payne is said to have spoken about sexually abusing dogs.

The teenager was jailed for four years, with an extension period of three years, on May 2 at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

He has also been issued with a ten year sexual harm prevention order and will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

An investigation by the Met’s online child sex abuse and exploitation unit in Camden was launched after police received three separate referrals for uploads of indecent images of children on Snapchat, Instagram and Discord.

The material was uploaded from 2021 to 2022 and were linked to Ethan Payne.

Detectives obtained a warrant and on October 12, 2022, arrested Payne at his home address on suspicion of distributing indecent images of children.

Payne’s laptop and mobile phone were seized during the search of his home.

Police said that the material on the devices showed Payne to be a dangerous sex offender obsessed with necrophilia, paedophilia, animal abuse, murder and torture.

On the laptop and mobile phone combined, officers found pornographic images in categories A to C, with A being the most extreme.

There were 430 Category A, 247 Category B, 125 Category C and 157 extreme pornography images.

Payne was subsequently charged with the following:

  • Three counts of possession of an indecent image of a child
  • Two counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image / images portraying an act of intercourse / oral sex with a dead or alive animal
  • Four counts of distributing an indecent photograph / pseudo-photograph of a child
  • One count of being an offender 18 or over causing / inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
  • One count of encouraging/ assisting in the commission of an either way offence believing it will be committed (Serious Crime Act 2007)

He pleaded guilty to 10 of 11 charges on November 15, 2022.

One charge of possession of an extreme pornographic image was later dropped as it was considered to be a duplicate offence.

Investigating Police Constable Lydia Kelly said: “There is no doubt that Payne is a danger to children and to animals.

“He is focused in his depravity on the most vulnerable and the sharing of his material online has fuelled other paedophiles.

“It is right that he has been jailed, his abhorrent behaviour has no place in society.”