Offender sentenced for using AI to create indecent images and blackmail
Neil Darlington was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to using AI to generate sexually explicit images of fully clothed girls and attempting to blackmail them, targeting children he believed were aged 11 and 14. The Court of Appeal increased his initial one-year sentence, citing the severity of offences including indecent images produced over a considerable period.
What happened
Neil Darlington, 52, used artificial intelligence to manipulate images of fully clothed girls into sexually explicit pictures. He threatened to send these images to the children's family and friends in an attempt to blackmail them.
Darlington pleaded guilty to 10 offences, including making indecent images of children and blackmailing two girls he believed were aged 11 and 14, whom he thought he had met in an online chat room. The children were decoys created by police officers.
Reported impact
Darlington targeted children he believed were aged 11 and 14, threatening them with fabricated explicit images in an attempt to coerce them into sending genuine explicit images.
Index analysis
The case demonstrates use of AI-generated imagery as a tool for child exploitation and extortion.
Governance controls
Darlington was initially sentenced to one year at Stoke Crown Court in June but the Solicitor General referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient. The Court of Appeal increased the term to three years and placed him on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.