A sex offender who groomed children over Snapchat and paid them for indecent images has been jailed.

Ian Della-Rocca, aged 39, was arrested in November 2024 after he was involved in sexual communication online with a person he believed was a 14-year-old girl.

The person he was speaking to was in fact a police officer.

Following his arrest, investigators examined Della-Rocca’s mobile phone and discovered that he had been speaking to real children on Snapchat.

From January 2023 and up to the point of his arrest Della-Rocca, who was living in North Baddesley at the time of the offences, had been engaging in sexual conversations with the children. Police identified three teenage girls who were based across the UK who were paid money by Della-Rocca in exchange for indecent pictures and videos. Police located almost 1,200 indecent images of children on his phone.

On one occasion, he met one of the children – a 15-year-old girl – and took her to school.

He was subsequently charged with the following offences, which he admitted at Southampton Crown Court:

• Three counts of possession of indecent images of children
• Attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child
• Adult attempt to cause a child to watch / look at an image of sexual activity
• Possess a prohibited image of a child
• Distribute an indecent image of a child
• Three counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child
• Three counts of cause / inciting a child to engage in sexual activity
• Three counts of paying for the sexual services of a child aged 13 to 15
• Cause / inciting a child to look at an image of sexual activity
• Attempting to meet a girl under 16 years of age following grooming

Appearing at Southampton Crown Court on Friday 9 January 2026, Della-Rocca, of Wilson Road in Chessington, was jailed for 6 years and 8 months.

He was also ordered to sign on to the Sex Offenders Register for life, and handed a 15 year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

PC Ollie Green, from the Internet Child Abuse Team (ICAT), said: “The relentlessness of Della-Rocca’s offending is really shocking. He persistently targeted young girls online, going as far as to pay them to provide him with indecent images.

“Della-Rocca groomed and exploited these children for his own perverse gratification, and it is clear he poses a serious risk to children.

“The girls have been incredibly brave in speaking to police about Della-Rocca’s behaviour, and it is because of them that we were able to secure so many criminal charges against him.

“I also want to extend my thanks to policing colleagues across the UK for their efforts in helping bring this man to justice.”

For information and advice around online child abuse, you can visit our web page here: https://www.hampshire.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/caa/child-abuse/online-child-abuse/