Congleton paedophile jailed for four years after admitting 35 offences
Mark Gould was speaking with children under the age of 16 on social media
A man from Congleton has been jailed for four years after admitting a number of offences including attempting to engage in sexual communications with children and possessing extreme pornography.
63-year-old Mark Gould, of Park Road, previously pleaded guilty to 35 offences.
They included:
- 17 counts of attempting to communicate sexually with a child
- 10 counts of attempting to incite a child aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity
- four counts of distributing indecent images of children
- three counts of making indecent images
- one count of possessing extreme pornographic material
Cheshire Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team began investigating him in 2025, after a report that Gould had been sexually communicating with children on social media.
On 27 June, officers arrested Gould at his home.
Two mobile phones were seized during a search of the property.
While in custody, Gould denied the offences.
Analysis of his devices showed Gould was speaking with children under the age of 16 and encouraging them to share sexualised images.
He'd also sent a number of explicit pictures of himself.
In total, 22 indecent images and three extreme pornographic images were recovered from his devices.
As well as his prison sentence, Gould has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Detective Constable Stacey Thompson, from Cheshire Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team, said Gould believed he could avoid detection by using a mobile phone.
She said: "He was very much mistaken, as our officers uncovered 22 explicit images of children, as well as several files containing extreme pornography.
“Even upon his release Gould will be continually monitored by our specialist officers under the terms of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order to ensure he does not reoffend and target any more children online.”