Congleton man jailed for online child sex offences

Mark Gould, of Park Road, Congleton, was sentenced to four years imprisonment on Thursday 14 May 2026.

63-year-old Gould had previously pleaded guilty to 17 counts of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and 10 counts of attempting to incite a child aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity.

He had also pleaded guilty to four counts of distributing an indecent image of a child, three counts of making an indecent image of a child and one count of possessing extreme pornography.

It was heard in court that, in 2025, officers from Cheshire Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) received a report that Gould was engaging in sexual communication with children over social media.

Officers conducted a visit to Gould’s address in Congleton on 27 June and he was arrested. Gould’s property was subsequently searched, and officers recovered two mobile phones.

While in custody Gould denied the offences, but digital media officers found message chats across two social media platforms where Gould was speaking with children under the age of 16 and encouraging them to share sexualised images. He also sent numerous explicit images of himself.

Over 20 illicit images were found across his devices, along with three extreme pornographic images.

Gould pleaded guilty to a total of 35 charges on his first court appearance on 2 April 2026.

Alongside his custodial prison sentence, Gould was also ordered to sign on to the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely and was handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Detective Constable Stacey Thompson, of the Online Child Abuse Investigation Team, said:

"Mark Gould believed that hiding behind a mobile phone screen meant he could fly under the radar and that his crimes would go undetected.

“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.”