BRITAIN'S youngest female paedophiles could face jail.

Sophie Elms, formerly of Station Road, Royal Wootton Bassett, has already pleaded guilty to 16 counts of child sex abuse.

The 18-year-old admitted molesting two young children. She has also been convicted of possessing extreme indecent images of a child and pornographic images of an animal.

She will be sentenced at Swindon Crown Court on Monday.

Last October, a court heard how the teenage nursery worker sexually assaulted the two and three-year-old children between December 1, 2016 and March 11, 2018. In that period, she also indecently touched the pair.

Defending Elms, Mr Chris Smyth described the case as highly unusual: “Miss Elms was only 17 herself at the time when the offences occurred.”

Remanding Elms into custody for her own protection, Judge Robert Pawson said: “You have pleaded guilty to what I suspect you fully understand are extremely serious charges.”

He warned the teen: “My strongest advice to you is that you avoid using social media for some time to come.

“You are very unlikely to make things better for your victims and their families by posting on social media, and you are very unlikely to make things better for yourself.”

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Following the case, Wiltshire Police took the unusual step of warning people against naming Elms’ young victims on social media. Laws designed to protect sexual assault victims prevent the youngsters from being identified.

Det Con Jo Smith said: “Vulnerable, young people are involved and your opinions and comments are certainly not helping these victims, who are still having to come to terms with the actions of this one woman.

"Please can I ask anyone thinking of posting on social media about these incidents to reconsider their actions and to not comment on the case or defendant.

"There appears to be a lot of social media chatter about the defendant and most worryingly some members of the public have taken it upon themselves to identify some of the victims.

“No doubt this was inadvertent but due to the sensitive nature of this case such actions can have major repercussions on all involved."