A man has been jailed for 17 months after sending sexual messages and explicit images to a schoolgirl he contacted on Twitter. Hasan Farooq, 24, of Holker Street, Keighley, pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court to engaging in sexual communications with a child.
The court heard Farooq used the pseudonym “Kai” when he befriended the girl in February 2022. He told her he was in his early 20s and living in the Birmingham area, while the girl told him she was under 16. Messages and voice notes recovered from the victim’s phone showed thousands of exchanges between them, including sexual references and discussions about sexual acts he wanted to perform.
Farooq also sent her images of a white male with his penis exposed, while the girl sent him a photograph of a female wearing underwear. Prosecutors said he replied that he was going to masturbate over it. The girl’s mother later became concerned after noticing her daughter was secretive and depressed, and the matter came to light after the victim was spoken to about grooming.
Even after police saw the girl’s phone, the communication continued under Farooq’s own name rather than the fake account. He later claimed he was a friend of “Kai” and told the girl that “Kai” had been assaulted, raped and hospitalised in what the court described as an elaborate fabricated story that left her upset and sobbing. Farooq continued to send sexualised messages and later asked the girl, through friends after he was bailed, to drop the case.
He was arrested from his workplace in Keighley in June 2023 and a number of phones were seized. In interview, he admitted messaging the girl but denied a sexual interest in children and suggested she had manipulated him. The court heard he had no previous convictions and that he was candid with police about his behaviour. Mitigation also referred to his mental health issues, ADHD and immaturity at the time of the offending.
Sentencing him, His Honour Judge Ahmed Nadim said it was concerning that Farooq tried to shift responsibility on to the complainant. “Children do not manipulate adults into committing sexual offences,” he said. “The responsibility lies solely with the adult who chooses to engage in such communication. You were that adult.”
Alongside the jail term, Farooq was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years and given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same period. The victim said in a statement that his behaviour caused anxiety and led her to self-harm, and that the contact was almost continuous.