POLICE have praised parents for their role in tracking down a man who has been found guilty of using social media to entice boys to send him sexually explicit photos.

Phillip Steven Smith, 20, from Canon Wilson Close, posed as a teenager using different names to try obtain explicit images of younger boys.

Smith would first attempt to engage his victims, who were aged between 11 and 14, in conversations on Facebook, before making sexual suggestions and sending them explicit photographs of himself.

He used false names and sent pictures of other children to mask his own identity. He would then send messages persuading them to email photographs back to him and, in some cases, try and arrange to meet with them in person.

At Liverpool Crown Court, Smith received a three-year community order, a lifetime sexual harm prevention order and was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years.

Detective Inspector Martin Earl from St Helens CID said parent intervention had prevented more boys from being victimised.

Police have praised the parents of several boys for raising the alarm after discovering their sons were being groomed by an older man.

In one case, one of the boys guessed the messages being sent to him were not from someone his own age and confided in his parents.

One mother turned the tables on Smith by continuing her son's online conversation with him in order to get him to disclose his mobile phone number, which she subsequently shared with police.

Speaking after the sentencing, DI Earl said: "Phillip Smith is a determined sex offender who pursued teenage boys who he knew were much younger than him and therefore below the age of consent. Yet he deliberately masqueraded as a teenager himself in order to strike up conversations and build trust with teenagers, using the anonymity that the internet provides, in the hope of a sexual encounter.

"Sadly in some cases he was successful in persuading his victims to share photographs of themselves with him and those young people will no doubt be affected by being exploited by Smith for some time to come.

"Thankfully in others either the boy himself became wary and stopped the conversation by blocking Smith, which is exactly the right thing to do, or parents recognised the warning signs and investigated further before calling the police when they realised something serious was going on."

Smith was caught after detectives from St Helens CID's child sexual exploitation unit, who were already investigating several cases reported to Merseyside Police, identified that the person operating under Smith's different aliases had the same mobile phone number. It became clear that Smith's victims were located throughout the UK.

Enquiries led to officers identifying Smith as being the offender's real name and his home was searched under warrant last October.

Two computers belonging to Smith were analysed by the police's cyber-crime unit and 71 indecent images of children were found.

On the mobile phone of one of Smith's Merseyside victims was evidence of Smith's attempts to get the schoolboy to exchange explicit photos of himself using social media site Whatsapp.

A meeting between the boy and Smith had been arranged but the police's intervention ensured it never went ahead.

DI Earl said: "As parents we walk a fine line between trusting our children, giving them freedom and independence to allow them to grow up while remaining vigilant and protective and intervening when we sense something is wrong.

"This case shows the importance of parents and other adults charged with protecting young people, in educating themselves about the risks and making sure they reinforce this knowledge at home and in school."

Website ListenToMyStory.co.uk provides advice on online safety.