Former soldier jailed after his sentence is ruled unduly lenient
Anthony Sheppard from Derby was originally given a three-year community order for encouraging an eight-year-old girl to send him naked pictures on Snapchat.
A former soldier will be jailed after the Court of Appeal increased his sentence for encouraging an eight-year-old girl to send him naked pictures on Snapchat.
Anthony Sheppard, 61, was originally given a three-year community order after he pleaded guilty at Derby Magistrates' Court in December last year.
He had been charged with inciting a child into sexual activity, sexual communication with a child and possession of extreme pornography.
The sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal in London by the Solicitor General where the child's lawyer, Will Martin, told a hearing on Wednesday that it was "unduly lenient".
He said: "The overall sentence imposed simply did not reflect the offending."
The mother of the girl, referred to as C, described being "shocked and sickened" after discovering Sheppard's messages on her daughter's iPod while C was at school, the court heard.
When the police arrested Sheppard, they found extreme pornography on his phone in addition to the Snapchat history.
The girl broke down in tears when her mother asked about the messages, saying she had felt "forced" into it, the court heard.
She told Sheppard she was 13 because she thought that was the minimum age required to use Snapchat, judges said.
Mr Martin said: "An appropriate sentence could only be achieved with an imposition of immediate imprisonment."
Clarkson Baptiste, for Sheppard, said his client is "willing to be rehabilitated", adding that Sheppard suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after a 20-year career in the army.
But Lord Justice Jeremy Baker, sitting with Mr Justice Soole and Judge Heather Norton, said he was "not satisfied" that there was enough chance of rehabilitation or that the community order was appropriate.
He said Sheppard has continued to play down his offending and initially denied to officers that he had spoken with a child on Snapchat, despite messages providing evidence.
"He had to explain what some of the sexual terms meant, which is not surprising given that C was eight years old," the judge added.
Lord Justice Jeremy Baker ordered an immediate prison sentence of 28 months and that Sheppard should surrender himself to a police station in Ripley, Derbyshire, by midday on Thursday.