Colchester, Essex: a 39-year-old man admitted making indecent images of children after the prosecution said he had used AI on photos taken from social media, including of children as young as nine, to create sexualised images of people known to him; he is due to be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court
The Colchester Gazette (24 September 2026, also carried by other Newsquest titles) reports that a 39-year-old man from Colchester admitted at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image. Police had seized two mobile devices in a raid on his address the previous year, holding nearly 2,000 indecent images of children. The prosecutor said he had created 'deepfake sexually explicit images of people known to the defendant', taking photos from Facebook and other social-media accounts and using AI to create new images; some of the children were as young as 12 and nine and had been edited to look as young as five and six. Magistrates declined jurisdiction and he was bailed to be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on 26 October 2026. The children are not identified and how many real children were depicted is not reported.
- AI system
- Unidentified image tool
- Occurred
- Event date unknown
- Reported
- 24 September 2026
- Event location
- United Kingdom
- What the AI did
- Depicted or impersonated the person
- Reported harm
- Exploitation or Abuse
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Privacy · Relationships
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 1 source
- 2 claims: 2 reported. 5 open questions
- People reported harmed
- Not reliably quantifiable from the sources
AI system as recorded: Unnamed AI tools used to turn children's photos taken from Facebook and other social media into sexualised images (prosecutor in court as reported by the Colchester Gazette)
What Happened
The Colchester Gazette's court report (24 September 2026) says police raided the man's then address in Colchester the previous year and seized two mobile devices containing 250 Category A, 712 Category B and 1,007 Category C images. Prosecuting, Vladimir Silea said the defendant had created 'deepfake sexually explicit images of people known to the defendant', and that some pictures were of children as young as 12 and nine that had been edited so they looked as young as five and six. The court heard that he had taken the photos from 'Facebook and other social media accounts' and used AI to create new images. He admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image. His lawyer asked for a pre-sentence report. Magistrates declined jurisdiction given the seriousness of the offences and bailed him to Chelmsford Crown Court, where a sentencing hearing begins on 26 October 2026. The report does not say how many of the images were AI-generated, how many real children were depicted, or whether the images were shared.
Reported harm
Photos of children taken from social media were turned into sexualised AI images, some edited to make the children look younger, according to the prosecution in court, which described the deepfakes as depicting people known to the defendant (Colchester Gazette); the man admitted making indecent images of children.
Outcome
PendingHe admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court; the bench declined jurisdiction and he was released on conditional bail to be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court, with a hearing beginning on 26 October 2026.
What remains unknown
- How many real children were depicted and whether any were informed.
- Which AI tool was used and how many of the images were AI-generated.
- Whether any images were shared.
- When the images were made.
- The sentence.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The prosecutor told the court the defendant took photos from Facebook and other social media and used AI to create new images, describing them as deepfake sexually explicit images of people known to him (Colchester Gazette). The tool is not named and the share of AI-generated images among those seized is not reported.
2 claims: 2 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The prosecutor told Chelmsford Magistrates' Court that the defendant created deepfake sexually explicit images of people known to him by taking photos from Facebook and other social media and using AI to create new images, some of children as young as 12 and nine edited to look as young as five and six.
Causal attribution. Prosecution statement in court as reported; the defence offered no account at this hearing.
- gazette-news.co.uk(opens in new tab) supports · English
'had created “deepfake sexually explicit images of people known to the defendant”.'; 'He added some of pictures were of children as young as 12 and nine years old, but had been edited so they looked as young as five and six.'; 'The court heard'; 'had taken the photos from “Facebook and other social media accounts – those pictures using AI to create new images.'
Reported The defendant admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image, and was bailed to be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court from 26 October 2026.
Causal attribution. Court report; the pleas cover all images, not only AI-made ones.
- gazette-news.co.uk(opens in new tab) supports · English
'admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image.'; 'There will be a hearing commencing on October 26, 2026'
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- Colchester Gazette, 24 September 2026: Man used AI to create sexual image of girls as young as nine years old(opens in new tab)
s1 · gazette-news.co.uk · News report · English · Inspected · 24 September 2026 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read live on 2026-09-29 (Colchester Gazette, Newsquest, 24 September 2026). Court report of the magistrates' hearing; syndicated to other Newsquest titles. Applies to s1.
Event countries: United Kingdom. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: United Kingdom.
Police raided the defendant's address in Colchester, Essex, and the case is before Chelmsford Magistrates' and Crown Courts (Colchester Gazette). Where the depicted children live is not stated.
Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated) consistent with existing AI child-abuse-image rows: the prosecution said a man used AI on photos taken from social media, including of children, to make sexualised images of people known to him, and he pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children. The account is a single court report; neither the defendant nor any child is named here.
People described
Children, some aged nine and 12, whose photos taken from social media the prosecution says were used to make sexualised AI images (not identified); the prosecution described the deepfakes as depicting people known to the defendant
People reported harmed in this case
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources
The prosecution refers to deepfakes of people known to the defendant and to pictures of children as young as nine and 12, but the number of real children depicted is not reported; image counts are not person counts. Unquantified, numeric placeholders 0.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Colchester, Essex: a 39-year-old man admitted making indecent images of children after the prosecution said he had used AI on photos taken from social media, including of children as young as nine, to create sexualised images of people known to him; he is due to be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-colchester-essex-man-admits-ai-sexualised-images-of-children-known-to-him
BibTeX
@misc{2026_colchester_essex_man_admits_ai_sexualised_images_of_children_known_to_him,
title = {Colchester, Essex: a 39-year-old man admitted making indecent images of children after the prosecution said he had used AI on photos taken from social media, including of children as young as nine, to create sexualised images of people known to him; he is due to be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-colchester-essex-man-admits-ai-sexualised-images-of-children-known-to-him}
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