A CCTV salesman who performed a sex act in front of a 12-year-old girl on a webcam was caught thanks to a quick-thinking mum.

Giovanni Abbondandolo, aged 34, posed as a 14-year-old boy when he logged on to the children's chatroom.

Abbondandolo started chatting with a 13-year-old boy and his younger female cousin at her home in Belvedere, Bexley, in September 2005.

He later performed a sex act, and the boy's mother kept Abbondandolo online and filmed him on her mobile phone camera as he abused himself.

Police did not trace the Hotmail account Abbondandolo had used to his home address until November last year.

When police raided the father-of-one's home in Heywood, Lancashire, they found a stash of child porn images on his computer.

He was arrested at his home on November 30 after a joint investigation by Greater Manchester Police and the Met and officers seized his computer.

Judge Charles Byers said he would order an investigation into why Abbondandolo was not charged until March despite admitting the offences in November last year.

Prosecutor Lindsey Thompson said blunders over the indictment meant the case had been delayed.

Today (October 1) at Woolwich Crown Court, Abbondandolo admitted two charges of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

He also admitted eight charges of making an indecent photograph of a child and seven of possessing an indecent photograph of a child.

The judge sentenced him to 15 months in jail.

Abbondandolo was also made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order for five years, during which time he must not work with children, work unsupervised in the presence of children or have a computer at home.