A sex offender who sent another an indecent image of a child on Kik “to keep him going” will be sentenced in October.

Appearing before Swindon Crown Court, Mark Forte, 52, of Cunningham Road, pleaded guilty to encouraging the commission of a child sex offence and distribution of an indecent image of a child in category C, the lowest category.

The court heard he had been chatting to another paedophile, known only by his username Ravman1, on the Kik messaging app in late 2015.

Prosecutor Mary Cowe said, in a discussion between the two Kik users about sharing child sex abuse images, Forte sent the other Kik user an indecent image “as he put it ‘to keep him going’”.

Judge Peter Crabtree ordered a pre-sentence report and bailed Forte to return to the crown court on October 1 for sentence. He said: “These are serious matters. The starting point is undoubtedly custody, but I’m going to ask probation to have a word with you. They’ll look at the other options. I make absolutely no promises to you at all.”

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