Perverted youth worker snared by police sting.

Former town hall colleagues of Matthew Bennett, who was recently dismissed from his position working with vulnerable youth, expressed shock and disbelief upon discovering his sordid past.

Bennett, 26, of Park Road, Wigan, is now serving a seven-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to 11 sexual offense charges. These charges included sending explicit images of himself to minors under 16, attempting to persuade a 12-year-old girl to send him an indecent picture of herself, and inciting the mother of a seven-year-old to engage in sexual activity with him and allow her to be sexually assaulted by him.

However, the individuals Bennett was communicating with were actually undercover vice squad officers. Bennett also admitted to distributing indecent images of children, classified as category C, the least serious category. These offenses took place online between January and July of this year.

The court heard that Bennett did not desist after his initial encounter with law enforcement. He continued communicating with two undercover officers on the KIK messenger app, believing them to be young girls. He was arrested on March 3rd and released on bail.

On July 20th, he contacted an undercover officer on XHamster.com, believing her to be the mother of a young girl. He attempted to convince her to involve her child in illegal sexual activities. Before his arrests, Bennett deleted information from his phone, but he used his own surname in his username and sent photos displaying his face.

One former colleague stated, "My background is in counselling and I'm quite adept at recognizing character traits, but I was completely taken aback by Bennett. He just seemed like an ordinary guy who kept to himself. He was working for the council's 'targeted youth services,' which put him in contact with some of the borough's most vulnerable children at schools, groups, and homes. This is naturally concerning, but we understand that the offenses were unrelated to his job. Ten months ago, he went on long-term sick leave, which was the first indication that something was wrong."

Another colleague commented, "To say we were shocked and repulsed after seeing that he had pleaded guilty to those sex crimes is an understatement."

A Wigan Council spokesperson said, "We can confirm that Matthew Bennett was dismissed from Wigan Council as soon as these allegations came to light. Neither the allegations nor convictions relate to his employment at the Council."

In addition to his prison sentence, Bennett will be subject to an extended license for five years, a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely, and he will be required to register as a Sex Offender indefinitely.