A sick dad who took a picture of himself abusing his baby girl on the orders of an online paedophile ring has been jailed for more than seven years.

The Swindon man in his late 20s, who we are not naming in order to protect the anonymity of his two children, sent a picture of his daughter and an image of his naked son to members of group VIP Kinks on internet messaging app Kik.

Swindon Crown Court heard he had boasted to other group members of abusing his own children and sexually assaulting another child. After sending the pictures of his son and daughter on Friday, February 28, he spent the next two days promising the group he would continue to abuse his one-year-old girl – but it was difficult as his young son kept walking in and had begun to ask questions.

Prosecutor Virginia Cornwall said police had been tipped off on February 29 that someone using a Sky wifi router at a home in Swindon had sent two indecent images of children via the Kik app the day before.

The homeowner was arrested by police and, initially, denied being involved in the paedophile ring. He later admitted sharing the vile images of his children.

He gave detectives the pin number to his Samsung mobile phone, leading them to the messages swapped with members of the VIP Kinks group.

In private chats with members of the group he received tips on abusing children and shared a video of a teenage girl performing a sex act upon herself. He said he knew the girl in the video was underage but could not stop watching it.

Found on his phone were eight indecent images of children in the worst category, 14 in category B, 11 in category C and 21 extreme pornographic images involving people having sex with dogs and horses. The images were all stored over a single day.

The children’s mum confirmed that the boy and girl had been with their dad on the Friday. Their hair was damp when he dropped them off at his ex-partner’s home that evening, saying he had bathed them so they were ready to go to bed.

The woman, who was completely unaware of the abuse until she was contacted by police, said in a victim statement she feared the abuse's long-term impact.

Matthew Harbinson, defending, said his client had been out of trouble since 2013, had not been convicted of sexual offences before and had helped the police with their enquiries.

“This has been his first experience of a custodial environment and he has obviously during that period – in excess of two months – had an opportunity to reflect on the situation he is currently in,” he said.

“I have discussed with him the attitudes he has and the views he has involved in this offending behaviour and he has discussed with me the impact on the children’s mother, his family members and the issues he has caused for all those people.

“He rightly describes it as having had a devastating impact on each and every one of those individuals I have mentioned.”

Appearing before the court via video link from HMP Bullingdon, the man admitted sexual assault by penetration of a child under 13, taking, making and distributing indecent images, and possession of extreme pornographic images.

Jailing the dad for seven years and eight months with an extended year-long licence, Judge Peter Crabtree referred to the mother’s statement.

“Her life has, in effect, been turned upside down. She cannot, not surprisingly, put into words how upset she is by your grave abuse of trust,” he said.

“She feels that she has let her children down. She has not, of course. It is only you who has grossly breached the trust she placed in you to look after your children when they were with you.”

He made a sexual harm prevention order that will last indefinitely and which bans the man from unsupervised contact with children under-16. The dad-of-two will be required to sign onto the sex offenders’ register for life.

Judge Crabtree said the man would serve at least half his sentence before being eligible for parole.