NATHAN Woods faces five years in jail after deceiving a 14-year-old girl and collecting more than 200 lurid images of her.

Woods, 30, of Seagry Court in Penhill, began messaging the girl, from Essex, in 2012 and told her he was a 16-year-old schoolboy from Swindon.

The conversation continued across various online platforms and he convinced the girl to send him images and videos of varying depravity.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court Woods had clearly been devious and manipulative.

The girl’s behaviour began to change at home and in school, where she finally revealed her secret with friends.

Once the police and her parents became involved, Woods was tracked down through his internet service provider.

Last month, in the hours before he was due to face a trial, Woods pleaded guilty to a number of counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. At an earlier date he pleaded guilty to four charges of possessing indecent images of a child.

Sentencing Woods, Judge Tim Mousley, said: “I don’t regard it as an exaggeration to describe her as being very young when you started to corrupt her.

“She described herself as being a scared, stupid, naïve and gullible girl.

“What she doesn’t recognise is that she was, in fact, vulnerable and she shouldn’t criticise herself too harshly for getting into the position she found herself in.

“Those characteristics must have been obvious to you and you manipulated her emotionally and took gross advantage of her.

“You practised a gross deception, an elaborate deception, upon a young girl.

“You were sexually motivated and did it all for your own perverted benefit. You caused distress to her, which it is probably hard to imagine, and all done so that you could exercise control over her and I’m bound to ask myself the question: where would this have all ended, had you taken matters further?

“She says that you could never understand how your behaviour has made her feel, how it has ruined her life.

“In the pre-sentence report, your comments to the probation officer indicate the lack of insight you still have, in relation to what you did, emphasising in your words she entered into this willingly. You don’t regard the disparity in age as significant.”

Woods was sentenced to five years’ jail for the sexual activity charges and 32 months for the indecent images, to be served concurrently. He will also be the subject of a sexual offenders’ prevention order indefinitely.