AN INTERNET paedophile who shared an image of a young boy being raped and made hundreds of secret videos of children and adults urinating has been jailed.

The “shocking” case of well-paid Newport IT engineer Shaun Brown, came to the attention of National Crime Agency child sexual exploitation officers.

Prosecutor Owen Williams said the defendant had fantasised about raping young boys with “a like-minded individual” in WhatsApp messages recovered by police.

He told how Brown had made covert videos of more than 600 men, women and children urinating.

The footage was mostly of men going to the toilet in a variety of places, both in private and in public, including adults on nights out in Cardiff city centre and, across the country, of football supporters attending matches and music fans at festivals and concerts.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how Brown was first spotted by police after he uploaded an indecent image of a child on Twitter.

He said the police then raided the 33-year-old’s Mersey Walk home in Bettws while Brown was working at the TV & Music Studios in London’s Covent Garden.

Mr Williams told the court that after searching his house and hotel room in the capital, they recovered 108 images of films and stills of category A images, which feature the most serious examples of child sexual abuse, from a computer and Apple iPhone.

There were a further 102 and 45 images respectively of category B and C.

The children abused in the videos and pictures ranged from new born babies to boys of 15.

When he was arrested, Brown told police of his relief at having been found out and told them he knew what he was doing was wrong and that “indirectly, he was abusing children”.

He admitted four counts of making an indecent image of a child, one charge of distributing an indecent image of a child and one count of voyeurism.

Harry Baker, mitigating, said his client had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and had made full and frank admissions to the police.

His barrister added that Brown’s family were in court to support him and urged Judge Jeremy Jenkins to sentence him to a community order and a sex offender programme.

But the judge said that the offences were so serious that only custody could be justified.

He told Brown: “There is a concern and a worry that a man as obviously intelligent as you, in a responsible and well-paid job, has a dark side to his character.”

The judge sentenced him to a total of two years and eight months in prison.

Brown was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for five years and placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.