18-year-old woman pleads guilty to numerous sex offences

A Wootton Bassett woman has pleaded guilty to a number of sex offences.

On Friday 26 October, at Swindon Crown Court, Sophie Elms, aged 18, of Royal Wootton Bassett, pleaded guilty to 16 indictments which include: assaulting a child,  distributing an indecent image of a child and possessing indecent images of children. 

Although she worked at a local nursery, none of the alleged offences are said to have happened at the childcare facility. 

She has been remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on Friday 4 January 2019. 

Det Con Jo Smith, the officer in charge of the case, said: "The local community has understandably reacted to this case due to the nature of the crimes committed. 

"There appears to be a lot of social media chatter about the defendant and most worryingly some members of the public have taken it upon themselves to identify some of the victims.  No doubt this was inadvertent but due to the sensitive nature of this case such actions can have major repercussions on all involved and those commenting on the victims could find themselves under investigation for contempt of court. 

"Please can I ask anyone thinking of posting on social media about these incidents to reconsider their actions and to not comment on the case or defendant. Vulnerable, young people are involved and your opinions and comments are certainly not helping these victims, who are still having to come to terms with the actions of this one woman."