A man in the North has been sentenced to 27-years after pleading guilty to child sex offences - targeting victims across the UK on social media.

55-year-old David Andrews, whose address was given as Maghaberry Prison, posed as a teenager on Snapchat and Instagram, with police admitting his crimes were “spread across the UK”.

The sentencing judge said details were "too harrowing and vile" to be repeated.

He will serve a minimum of 13-and-a-half-years before being considered for parole.

He previously pleaded guilty to 130 charges - involving 47 victims, 46 of which were children.

"Heinous predator"

Detective Chief Inspector Jill Duffy spoke outside Downpatrick Crown Court after the sentencing and described Andrews as a man who committed his crimes to satisfy his “sexual perversions”. 

“David Andrews is a heinous predator who repeatedly used same behaviour pattern to groom young girls across the UK via Snapchat and Instagram into believing they were in a relationship with a young boy of a similar age,” she said.

“He would then encourage them to send indecent images of themselves later, using these images to threaten blackmail and abuse them in order to satisfy his own sexual perversions.”

Andrews was found with almost 10,000 illicit images of children.

David Andrews. Image: PSNI