Daniel Burn posed as a teenage girl to try to meet young boys for sex
A FOOTIE coach who cloned the Facebook profile of a young woman to lure boys into sending him images of themselves has been jailed for eight years.
Daniel Burn, 22, used his connections in youth football and with a local cricket team to target some of his victims on the internet, trying to incite them into meeting him for sex.
Durham Crown Court heard that posing as a teenage girl he lured some of the boys into sending him intimate images of themselves.
Richard Bennett, prosecuting, said Burn cloned the Facebook profile of a young woman to increase his chances of attracting young boys.
Mr Bennett said that when the woman was made aware of her account being “hijacked” she initially thought it was a joke and was then “mortified” and “angry”.
Despite his efforts, he only met one boy, and no sexual activity took place, despite giving him alcohol.
Burn was initially arrested in June last year when the mother of one boy contacted police after she
became aware of the nature of some of the messages on social media sites.
At the time he denied having a sexual interest in boys, but, when bailed immediately resumed his activities.
When he was arrested again Burn made admissions and conceded he did have a sexual interest in boys.
Burn, of Darlington, County Durham, admitted five counts of causing or inciting a boy to engage in sexual activity and asked for three similar offences to be considered.
Two of the boys involved were aged under 13 and the others were 13 to 15 years old.
Stephen Constantine, mitigating, told the court that Burn “accepts he has a problem and needs help to overcome it”.
Burn was also placed on the sex offenders register for life.
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