A FACEBOOK predator who groomed young girls online has had his jail term lengthened after detectives tracked down more of his victims while he was behind bars.
Wheelchair-bound Nicholas Bull, 32, was jailed for nine-and-a-half years in May 2011 for grooming a 12-year-old Hull girl. He showered her with teddies, jewellery and chocolates, before raping her.
Bull even duped her parents by pretending to be a love-struck 13-year-old boy who had been injured while playing the character of Stitch in Disney On Ice.
Detectives said at the time that they suspected Bull, who was left paraplegic following a car crash in 2009, had many more victims.
Now, following a lengthy and detailed investigation, which led to a further 13 victims – aged between ten and 15 – being identified, Bull's sentence has been lengthened by five years.
Posing as a young boy, Bull persuaded the girls to send him indecent images of themselves and speak to him over a webcam.
Hull Crown Court heard he met one of his victims, a 14-year-old girl, and filmed himself having sex with her.
Patrick Palmer, prosecuting at Hull Crown Court, said: "Phones and computers were seized and analysed. It took a considerable amount of time to identify and track down some of the girls involved.
"The modus operandi was effectively the same in respect of the first, original conviction. He persuaded them to take part in sexual acts."
Mr Palmer described how Bull, a pot-washer from Orpington, Kent, used MSN and Facebook to target girls across the country, using various aliases and a fake profile picture showing the face of a teenage boy.
Bull pleaded guilty to a further 23 counts of sexual abuse.
Mr Palmer said the most serious charges – two counts of sexual activity with a child – related to the 14-year-old girl from Nottingham.
After grooming her online for six months, he persuaded her to meet him and booked a room in the Hilton hotel.
Detectives later discovered footage of him having sex with the girl in the hotel room.
The girl went on to visit Bull on two occasions at his home in Kent.
Mr Palmer said: "Now she knows his true identity, she feels tricked by him, disgusted. She feels terrible."
Another of his victims was a 11-year-old girl, of Hull. He convinced her he was a 16-year-old boy named Matt.
"He asked for her address to send Christmas presents," said Mr Palmer. "He asked to come and see her. He never actually turned up.
"A month later he told her he had been hurt in an accident. He asked her to do something to make him better."
Bull sent a text stating: "Hey babe, send me a pic of you naked."
The girl complied.
Police recovered 166 indecent images and videos from phones and computers belonging to Bull. Six were deemed to be at Category A – the most serious level.
Judge Tahir Khan QC told Bull: "What the sentencing judge did not know in 2011 was that between January 2008 and December 2010 you had been systematically, persistently and ruthlessly pursuing girls aged from ten to 15 with a view to grooming them.
"You can properly be described as prolific.
"A number of girls succumbed to the pressure."
