Latest Offenders Devon

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A former Torquay hotel handyman has been jailed for a series of sex offences against children dating back four decades.

Maurice Button, 69, disappeared half way through his trial at Exeter Crown Court for offences against two girls who were aged just eight and 12 at the time.

But the paedophile gave himself up over the weekend and was found guilty by a jury.

During his sentencing one of his victims fought back tears when describing the devastating effect his abuse had on her. She said after years of trying to lock away her experiences in the back of her mind she had found the courage to speak out. 

She told Button: "I tried to forget over the years. I boxed you up and put you to the back of my head and threw away the key." She added: "I will go today knowing I fought my demons and won with the support of family, friends and the police."

Button was found guilty of seven offences and was jailed for 13 years by Judge David Evans. He must also serve a further year on extended licence.

The trial was told six of the offences were committed against the older of the two girls.

Button groomed the child over a two-week period, showering her with praise and telling her how special she was. He repeatedly indecently assaulted and had unlawful sexual intercourse with a child under 13.

The abuser gained his victims' trust with his outgoing and 'fun' personality. In reality he was a predatory paedophile.

In her statement to the court the victim said: "Your type think you have done no wrong. You singled me out then you started to fulfil your sick desires, to sexually abuse me and rape me. You ruined my path of life."

She said for many years she was still too traumatised to think about what had happened in her past.

She considered suicide as the final throw of the dice to rid herself of the memories. But since coming forward with the truth everyone in her family was proud of her for the courage she had displayed bringing Button to justice.

"You are the one who has brought shame and disgust," she told him. "Your picture will be in the local paper showing the sick and perverted paedophile you are."

Button's other victim said she had also fought to supress in her mind what had happened to her. Aged just eight, Button had committed an act of gross indecency.

The defendant has a number of previous convictions. In 1995 he was jailed for six months for indecently assaulting a child.

Ms Virginia Cornwall, defending, said since then Button had not offended and had been happily married for 20 years. She said he now suffered with diabetes and prison would be difficult.

Button, of Dandelion Close, Newton Abbot, told police the offences never happened.

On Wednesday of last week he was due to give evidence in his trial but instead left the court at lunchtime, changed his clothes and drove away. Police issued an appeal for the missing man saying he had last been seen getting off a bus in Sidmouth High Street at around 2.45pm.

Despite some delays the trial continued in his absence and he gave himself up over the weekend.

"Perhaps that was always due to happen given you had little to eat and nowhere to go," said Judge Evans.

He added: "You were avoiding overwhelming evidence against you in this trial. It was a deliberate attempt to evade or delay justice." He sentenced Button to six months for absconding. That sentence must be served before the 13 years can begin.

The judge said: "The truth was you are a paedophile and you had a sexual interest in young girls. You used your position as an adult with a reputation for being gregarious and friendly and fun as the means by which to trick the first victim when she was just eight years old."

He said that offence happened when the defendant was 28. He then went on to commit the even more serious offences against the older child.

"You were doubtless reasonably confident that neither girl would feel able to raise the alarm given their ages."

He said the consequences of Button's offending had 'cascaded down the years' and left a deep trauma for the victims.

The court was told the sentences available to the court in 2021 would be more severe than they were under 1980 laws. Judge Evans said he had to take that into consideration when reaching the total sentence.

Button must serve at least half of his 13 years in prison. He will then be considered by the parole board for release. Once the 13-year term is complete he will be subject to a further year on licence.

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A VOYEURS string of sick offending came to light when a woman complained to police that hed tried to pay her son to video her while she slept.

That allegation, which was reported to police in Swindon in 2018, never resulted in charges being brought against John Berry.

But the claims led police to the home 36-year-old Berry shared with his mother, where they discovered a camera hidden in the bathroom ceiling and linked to a motion sensor device.

On Friday, Swindon Crown Court heard how over more than a decade self-described voyeurism addict Berry had filmed women and girls without their knowledge.

Starting in the mid-2000s, the images were taken using cameras or phones hidden in his then Witney home and at a friends property while they were away. He used a spy camera in a USB stick to film a woman while she performed a sex act on him and also filmed up an underage girls skirt on a bus.

His victims included a child who believed she was five or six when Berry photographed her, although his recollection was that she was older.

Berry told detectives hed deleted the images and videos from the computer, but admitted hed previously had a sexual interest in underage girls.

He said he was addicted to taking videos of unsuspecting people and acknowledged he needed to be punished, telling the officers: I know what Ive done. Im not going to try and argue my way out of it.

Digital forensics officers were able to find folders of images or videos relating to five women and girls taken up to a decade before.

Also uncovered from his computers were 150 indecent images in category A, 100 in category B and more than 2,700 in category C. The files included 83 videos in the most serious category A which includes depictions of child rape and showed children as young as three.

None of the files were accessible and none had been shared.

In court yesterday, Berry was seen to cover his ears as he heard his victims and the father of one girl tell of the devastating impact of his offending.

One woman said in a victim personal statement recorded by the police and played to the court: I suffer with anxiety. I havent been able to leave the house since [being told shed been secretly filmed].

I have kept my children at home because I feel like I need to keep them close to me because I dont want something to happen to them.

[There] is just so much going on in my head and I just think what if they [hidden camera devices] are in my house. What if my children are being videoed? Its just destroying me.

Sending Berry to prison for three-and-a-half years, Judge Peter Crabtree noted that one of the mans victims said she had felt guilty for speaking out.

She shouldnt, of course, the judge told Berry. The only person who is guilty is you.

He added: Anyone who downloads indecent images of children as you did and as is reflected in charges eight to 13 is fuelling an abhorrent industry which very often has serious life-long physical and psychological impact on the victims concerned.

Berry, now of Totnes Road, Paignton, pleaded guilty at the magistrates court to voyeurism, producing indecent images of children and possession of indecent images of children in categories A to C.

Gareth James, mitigating, urged the judge to spare his client an immediate prison sentence, citing the fact he had made admissions to the police when he was interviewed, his remorse, the efforts he had made to address his attraction to underage girls and the difficult conditions in prison during the pandemic.

Berry, who is self-employed, was said to be the primary carer for his mother, with whom he now lived in Devon. He had taken courses aimed at halting his interest in underage girls

Judge Crabtree said the offences were so serious that only immediate imprisonment would do justice to the case.

The defendant must register as a sex offender and remain subject to a sexual harm prevention order for life.

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A sex offender has been jailed for having contact with children in breach of a banning order.

Craig Beddows, 55, befriended two mothers in breach of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed by a court to protect children.

He should have told the women about his past but ignored the order and was in regular contact with four boys.

He did not commit any sexual offence against them and was never left alone with the youngsters but a judge at Exeter Crown Court said he was guilty of persistent and wilful breaches of his order. He would give the children presents and liked to be called 'Uncle Craig'.

Beddows, of Wolborough Street, admitted four breaches of the order and was jailed for 20 months.

The court was told he led a lonely existence having been shunned by his family due to his previous behaviour which started with a conviction for indecent assault against girls under 16 back in 2003.

The court was told the defendant befriended a woman and over a period of about a year came into contact with her children.

"There was nothing inappropriate in the way he behaved towards them but she wasn't aware he was subject to a SHPO," said prosecutor Mr Ian Graham.

Beddows also made friends with another mother. There was no suggestion he behaved inappropriately to her children but did not reveal the contact to his offender manager.

When the women were told about his past they felt 'betrayed' and upset, the court was told.

Mr Barry White, defending, said Beddows previous offending had been against girls and he did not pose a risk to boys.

Recorder Timothy Kenefick said: "You have a number of previous convictions for sexual offences involving children under 16 and breaching notification orders.

"The probation report says there is a clear pattern of befriending mothers with young children and having contact with these children knowing full well you're not permitted to do that."

He said he accepted that Beddow led a solitary life and endured a considerable amount of loneliness but it was not the first breach and there was no alternative to immediate prison.

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A Devon paedophile who twice groped a teenage girl in her own Co Armagh home was handed a 12 month sentence on Friday.

In addition to the sentence with half to be spent in jail and half on licence, 34-year-old William Pope was also ordered to sign the police sex offenders register for ten years and banned from working with children.

Pope, from Stonelands Park, Dawlish in Devon, had entered guilty pleas to two counts of sexual assault on a date unknown between December 5, 2018 and May 1, 2021 by touching his young victim sexually.

Prosecuting counsel Nicola Auret told Craigavon Crown Court how the offences came to light in December 2021 when the teenager disclosed to a counsellor that Pope had twice abused her.

That disclosure lead to a police investigation with the victim describing to detectives how she had been 14 when Pope was at her home and when he “pulled her in for a cuddle,” he stuck his hand up her top, felt her breasts, moved over her stomach and then put his hand in her pants.

Pope asked her “do you like it when I touch you there,” said Ms Auret but the victim “kept telling him that she needed the toilet, he got frustrated and told her to leave.”

Turning to events in April 2021, the barrister said there was a party in the teenager’s house and she had been drinking alcohol when Pope “carried her up to bed,” seizing the opportunity to grope her breasts again.

Arrested and questioned by police, Pope denied doing anything wrong, a stance he maintained until 12 days before his trial was due to start.

Ms Auret submitted there were multiple aggravating features to the offending including the fact the girl was twice abused in her own home where “she should have felt safe.”

Defence counsel Joel Lindsay said while he accepted the aggravating features, he submitted there were also mitigating factors including Pope’s clear record, guilty plea and genuine remorse, “recognising the pain that he has caused this young lady.”

He also conceded that although the custody threshold had been crossed, there was also a possibility that Pope could be put on an intensive probation programme designed to address the underlying causes of his offending.

“Society I know could yell an objection to that and say that’s outrageous, that probation programme is not an easy option,” argued Mr Lindsay.

Judge Patrick Lynch KC said he accepted that Pope’s guilty plea had spared his victim the ordeal of testifying in a public arena and also that Pope had not offended before or since but that given the offences, “a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

In addition to the 12 month sentence, the judge also imposed a five year Sexual Offences Prevention Order which bars the pervert from contacting his victim, prohibits him from loving anywhere without permission and compels him to make verifiable disclosure of his convictions to any new partner.

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A man caught with so many indecent images of children that investigators 'gave up counting' has been spared jail time.

Pinky Caine, aged 31, had almost 4,000 illegal photos on his devices and 22,0000 more which were never classified.

He had a secret mobile phone and 'boasted' of hiding his internet history so police would not catch him, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

Caine was also in breach of a suspended sentence for identical offences.

But he avoided immediate custody after a judge heard that it was more than two years since he had last offended and the steps he had taken to tackle his perversion.

His family sacrificed their savings to pay privately for treatment at The Priory, a London psychiatric hospital famous for its celebrity clients.

Handing him a fresh suspended sentence, Judge William Mousley told Caine: “You have been given a huge chance on this occasion. You have come as close as it is possible to get to going straight to prison.

“I am prepared to accept that you do not constitute an immediate risk of harm to the public. There are still hopes of your rehabilitation through work which is ongoing.”

The judge said that there were 22,000 images on his devices which were “questionable”, but as they were not classified they cannot be seen as indecent in law.Caine, of St Johns Terrace in Totnes, pleaded guilty to four counts of possession of indecent images of children in 2018.

The vast majority of the 3,902 files found on his devices were in the lowest bracket, but 12 were in Category A - including videos and images depicting adults abusing children.

He also admitted breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order by having an internet enabled mobile phone which was not declared to the police.

Ian Graham, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that he was handed that order after he was convicted of making indecent images of children in July 2017.

He was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

Mr Graham said that police found indecent images on his devices in both May and December 2018.

The barrister added Caine was heard saying that he was "still viewing" indecent images during a group counselling session in August 2018.

Mr Graham said: “He said that he was covering his tracks and he was not worried at that stage about the police finding anything wrong.”

Lee Bremridge, Caine's defence, said that he had pleaded guilty at an early stage and showed “genuine remorse”.

He added that the judge should take into account the long delay in the case – with the defendant not appearing in court until September last year.

Mr Bremridge said that Caine had used the time to tackle his problems, including heavy drinking, on his own initiative.

The barrister added that his family had used their savings to pay for his treatment at The Priory.

Judge Mousley handed Caine a fresh nine-month prison sentence but suspended it for two years.

He ordered that he have six-month alcohol treatment and 35 days of probation’s intensive Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.

Caine was also fined £1,000 for breaching his original suspended sentence.

The judge also ordered that his phones and computers be forfeited.

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A lonely teenager has been jailed for grooming a 13-year-old girl on social media and having sex with her in a park in Barnstaple.

Matthew Medland went on to try and force an adult woman to have sex with him by threatening to post a naked video of her on the internet.

He was about to turn 19 when he had sex with the girl and he was said to be isolated from people of his own age, lonely, and very immature.

He started exchanging messages on social media with the girl when she was just 12 but she was 13 by the time he persuaded her to have sex with him.

Medland sent messages telling her he loved her and saying he wanted her to have his baby when she turned 14. He got her to send naked selfies on her phone.

Her mother became suspicious about the relationship when she overheard his voice on the phone and realised he was much older than her daughter. The girl became upset when her mother questioned her about it and ran off in tears to her grandmother’s house, where she disclosed the truth and the police were called.

Medland was released under investigation by the police while his phone was sent for forensic examination and he went on to commit the second offence seven months later.

He obtained a video clip of a 19-year-old girl which he sent to one friend before telling her he would post it online unless she had sex with him. She said no and called the police.

Medland, aged 19, of St Brannocks Road, Ilfracombe, admitted sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child, making indecent images of a child, and sending an electronic communication with the intention of causing distress.

A more serious count of blackmail was dropped by the prosecution.

He was jailed for three years and six months by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court. He was put on the sex offenders’ register and made subject of the Sexual Harm Prevention Order which bans future contact with under age girls and allows he police to monitor his internet activity.

The judge told him: ”You were in a chat group with people much younger than yourself and made contact with the victim when she was 12. You knew her age perfectly well because she told you about her 13 birthday.

“You should have had no contact whatsoever. It was wholly inappropriate with an age gap of six years, which is an important gap at that time of life.

“There is no doubt you embarked on the process of inveigling yourself into her affections to pursue sexual contact with her. You were insistent and persuasive and there was an element of grooming.

“It was extremely harmful behaviour. She was your victim. She was in no way an equal participant, which you seem to have thought she was.”

The judge said Medland’s behaviour towards the second victim was ‘quite despicable’

Miss Mary McCarthy, prosecuting, said Medland started chatting to the girl online when she was 12 and started meeting her when she was 13, culminating in them having sex in a park in Barnstaple in September of last year.

He went on to ask her to have his children and go her to send naked pictures of herself. When he realised her mother had found out, he told her ‘delete everything’.

In April of this year a woman of his own age went to the police because he was threatening to release a naked video of her onto the internet. He had already shared it with a friend and said he would make it available publicly unless she had sex with him.

Mr Richard Crabb, defending, said:”He was an immature, lonely, inadequate young man who found friendship, and more, with a younger girl because his hopes of a relationship with a girl of his own age had not materialized.”

He is struggling to cope in prison and is now accessing mental health care for the first time.

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A pensioner has been jailed for 10 years for the historic sexual abuse of a young girl and boy during visits to a Devon farm.

Arthur Bawden took every opportunity to get the girl alone with him in the farmhouse, in barns, and the milking parlour and carried on abusing her for years during the 1970s.

She was so young when the assaults started that she did not realise that what he was doing was wrong, and was too frightened and ashamed to tell anyone when she grew older and started learning about sex.

He claimed he had only touched her once when she was 16 and was sleeping in the kitchen during a farm visit in her school holidays.

He also abused a young boy who was visiting his farm at around the same time. He also isolated him by taking him away from the farmhouse before touching him sexually.

Bawden was originally jailed for 15 years at Exeter Crown Court in 2017 for the abuse of the girl but the jury's verdicts were overturned by the Court of Appeal, which ordered a retrial. He was released last year but found guilty of many of the allegations for a second time by a new jury last month.

He was acquitted of two counts of rape and two of indecent assault against the girl at the first trial and found not guilty of eight more counts of indecency at the new trial last month.

Bawden, aged 74, of Joey’s Field, Bishops Nympton, was found guilty of 11 counts of indecent assault or indecency against the girl and one of indecently assaulting the boy.

He admitted indecently assaulting the girl on one occasion, which he said happened after she turned 16.

He was jailed for 10 years and four months and put on the sex offenders register for life by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

The judge told him: “The indecent assaults started with touching the girl when she was seven or eight and continued to when she was 13 to 15.

“By that time you had to be more forcible to commit the offence because she had grown older and became more resistant. You took the boy to a location away from your home where you said you had work to do.

“There has been an ongoing effect an both victims throughout their childhood and into adulthood and up to the present day.

“The profound way abuse affects people personally and psychologically was clear from the evidence at the trial and from the victim personal statements.

“You tried to blacken and undermine the female victim’s character. That demonstrates that you have very little true remorse and you fail to understand the true extent of the harm you caused.

“You made reference during your evidence of the girl ‘making a meal of it’ in relation to the one offence you admitted.”

During the two trials, the girl, now an adult, told the jury how Bawden started to abuse her during farm visits. He bribed her with money and sweets and sexually assaulted her in various farm buildings.

The boy told the jury he had loved visiting the farm but had been sexually assaulted when Bawden took him to work with him away from the main buildings.

In his evidence, Bawden claimed he was too busy running a 90 acre farm with his father Reg to have time to abuse the girl. He said he had never been left alone with her when she was young.

Miss Phillipa McAtasney, defending, said Bawden is in poor health and suffering from arthritis and had been assaulted and threatened during the ten months he spent in jail after his first conviction.

He had lived a blameless life before and after committing these offences and had helped the community by giving land for a new village hall.

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A sex offender who tried to claim a ‘child sex doll‘ was for an art project has been jailed.

Donald Styles, 61, said he purchased the 3ft doll, which had realistic sex organs, for a university application after it was intercepted at customs.

Police raided his home in Newton Abbot, Devon, and found 149 films and images of child abuse including rape, the BBC reports.

A judge said his story was “ridiculous” and jailed him for 18 months.

Exeter Crown Court heard Styles, a former Plymouth University art student, had told police he wanted the doll for a project he needed to submit as part of an application for a masters degree course at the university.

Judge David Evans told Styles: “If you needed a doll, there were plenty you could have bought legally. There was no reason whatsoever it had to be a child sex doll.

“Your explanation is utterly ridiculous and I reject it completely. This offence is so serious that only immediate imprisonment is justified.”

Jason Beal, prosecuting, said an investigation was launched by the National Crime Agency when Styles tried to import the doll from China in 2016.

His home was raided in February 2018 and the images were found on CD ROMs which were made in the early 2000s.

In reality 149 films and images were recovered of which 72 fell in the worst category, depicting child rape.

There was also a video he had made of a naked five-year-old child.

Inquiries with Plymouth University also showed he had not made any recent application for any courses.

Paul Dentith, defending, said the offences had taken place a long time ago and there was no evidence of any direct physical offending against children.

Styles, of Oak Place, Newton Abbot, admitted one count of producing and three counts of possessing indecent images of children.

He was jailed for 18 months, put on the sex offenders register for 10 years, restricted from contacting children and will have his internet activity monitored.

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A former headteacher from Devon has been jailed for vile historic sex offences against children.

Robin Mellor, 74, of North Street in Braunton, was convicted of sexually abusing two children during the 1970s and 1980s.

He used to work at several primary schools in Kent and would commit his depraved acts when his pupils would visit his home address in the town of Ditton for private tutoring sessions.

One 11-year-old girl was targeted repeatedly over a year-and-a-half period, where Mellor would show her pornographic images and force her to copy what was shown in those images, reports Kent Live.

He then assaulted a second girl during another tutoring lesson at his house, this time attempting to engage her in sexual activity and committing an indecent act in front of her.

It was not until January of last year that Mellor was arrested and charged with five counts of indecent assault on a child and a charge of inciting a child to commit an act of gross indecency.

Upon arrest, he was also charged with making indecent images of a child after 20 illegal images were discovered when officers seized his computer.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges and put his brave victims through the ordeal of a trial at Maidstone Crown Court. However, on Thursday (March 7), Mellor was convicted of all counts and and was sentenced to six years in prison.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and was put on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

Detective Sergeant Rob Grieve said: "Robin Mellor grossly abused his position of trust as a teacher and tutor, in order to sexually abuse children

"Today’s sentence will not take away the emotional and physical trauma his victims were made to endure as children, but it will hopefully bring some closure.

"Mellor was a teacher at several primary schools in west Kent, in areas which included Ditton and Larkfield and we can’t discount the possibility he may have committed further offences which may not yet have been reported.

"I would like to thank the two victims in this case for their bravery in coming forward and bringing Mellor to justice.

"I do hope their courage empowers any other victims of sexual abuse to have the confidence to contact police.

"We will always treat victims with dignity and sensitivity and thoroughly investigate any offences."

Description

The defendant initially denied doing anything wrong and the case was due to go to trial. But on the morning of the hearing the defendant admitted what he had done.

What you did has had a significant impact on the young girl, said the judge.

You damaged her carefree years.

He said the defendants previous conviction should have been seared in your brain as a deterrent and he still posed a threat to the public.

Kevin Hopper, in mitigation, said it was a completely irrational act but OConnor was the type of person who would benefit from a treatment programme.

Judge Evans said the defendant had previously be given the chance to complete a sex offender course but had left before it was finished.

He said OConnor had underlying perverted attitudes.

The defendant was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning him from contact with children under 18.

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A former car trader from Torquay has been jailed after being caught by vigilantes trying to meet a 'nine-year-old girl' for sex.

Richard Giles, 24, fell for an online sting by self-styled paedophile hunters, Exeter Crown Court was told.

The girl he thought he had groomed online was actually a decoy created by an adult on behalf of UK Database and did not exist.

Davis was confronted by members of the group after trying to lure the girl to his house.

He claimed he only wanted to play Monopoly with her.

Giles admitted that on December 23 last year he communicated on more than one occasion with who he believed to be a nine-year-old girl and attempted to meet her for sexual activity.

Prosecutor Gordon Richings said the defendant struck up a conversation online with the decoy who told him at the outset that she was just nine years old.

Within a day the conversations turned sexual said the prosecutor.

The defendant referred in explicit sexual terms to the girls body and sent her a photo of a BMW he said he owned.

The defendant suggested the girl meet him at his home address on December 23. He was confronted at the scene by members of the vigilante group.

The group filmed him making confessions and police arrived to arrest him, said the prosecutor.

Police said they found a pair of childs knickers at his address. Giles said they belonged to an adult ex-girlfriend. He said he was not sexually attracted to children and preferred older woman.

Mr Llewellyn Sellick, defending, said Giles had been married before to an older woman and divorced at the age of 19.

At the time of the offence he had been drinking heavily and looking after his blind father.

He had previously had a business trading in cars and had been studying in prison to get better qualifications.

Judge Geoffrey Mercer QC told him: You went to considerable lengths to engage in online conversation with a girl who you thought was nine years old. The conversation turned to a clear sexual element. You had a clear sexual interest in her, although you were told she was nine years old.

You arranged to meet her believing her to be a nine-year-old girl but you undoubtedly believed that she was. You went to meet her and your intentions in meeting her were clearly sexual. You were not concerned, as you suggested, to play Monopoly.

The judge said in some cases it was possible to suspend the sentence but not in this instance.

He was jailed for 18 months.

Giles was told to sign the Sex Offender Register and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

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A Devon man has been jailed for arranging to meet a 13-year-old girl at the train station but instead being confronted by a group of vigilante paedophile hunters.

Gary Parker, 43, was snared by UK Database who filmed his citizen’s arrest at St David’s Station in Exeter.

They told him the person he thought was a 13-year-old girl was really a fictitious online creation.

Parker, of Brays Close, Crediton, immediately admitted what he had done. In court he pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a girl under 16 for sexual activity; attempting to engage a child in sexual communication via Facebook Messenger; and attempting to arrange or facilitate a sexual offence with a girl.

He was jailed for 15 months.

It is the latest in an increasing number of cases involving paedophile hunters to come before the courts.The offences took place between December 4 and December 9.

Judge Graham Cottle said: “These offences arise out of short series of events involving a fictitious girl called Sammy.

“The prevalence of, and increase in, this type of offending is of great concern and sentencing must reflect the extent of that concern. The message has to be sent out and received that men like you, with or without previous convictions, who may engage in this sort of activity are committing a serious offence, which unless there are wholly exceptional circumstances, they will receive an immediate custodial sentence.

“However difficult you find it to accept what you’ve done it’s quite clear the plans you had for this fictitious girl involved sexual activity.”

The court was told that within minutes of befriending the ‘girl’ online he had initiated sexualised chat. UK Database published details of the conversations and the arrest of Parker on its Facebook site.

It was clear to Parker from the outset that the person he believed he was talking to was just 13, the court was told. But this did not stop him arranging to meet her for sex in Exeter.

Peter Seigne, mitigating, said Parker knew now he had been spending ‘way too much time’ on the internet.

He would spend up to six hours a day playing games and started to accepted friend requests in order to gain online coins to carry on playing.

He said the defendant found the citizen’s arrest ‘very frightening’ and wanted to get help from probation for his behaviour.

Following his release from prison Parker will be subject to licence and supervision conditions. He was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and must sign the Sex Offender Register.

After the sentencing, an NSPCC spokesperson for South West England said: “Parker’s shocking behaviour highlights the dangers posed to youngsters by offenders online. He fully believed he was speaking to a 13-year-old girl via social media, but continued to groom her before attempting to meet her.

“This kind of predatory activity can ruin childhoods, with the devastating effects lasting into adulthood. While the victim in this case was fictitious, we know that ‘real’ children are being targeted by groomers every day in the UK.

Description

David Hack thought he was going to meet a girl called Felicity who he had chatted up online but instead he was confronted by members of a Plymouth based vigilante group.
 
The girl did not exist and he had been trapped by a female paedophile hunter from Wales who had passed on details of the rendezvous to the Plymouth group.
Hack, 34, met the fictitious girl on the Badoo and Hot or Not websites where she used the profile Felicity30 but told him she was 15.

He claimed he had been trying to give her sex education after he was trapped by the sting operation and interviewed by police.
During his web chats with Felicity he suggested she should touch herself sexually and he sent her an image which he said was of his penis.
He did not suggest they have full sex when they met and discussed waiting for her 16th birthday, Exeter Crown Court was told.
He made the online contact at a time when he was lonely and isolated because he lived in a small village in the South Hams where he was the full-time carer for his seriously ill grandmother.

David Hack, 34, from Churchstow, admitted attempting to meet a child following grooming and attempting to incite a girl to engage in sexual activity.
He was jailed for 16 months, suspended for two years and ordered to attend a sex offenders programme and do 10 days of rehabilitation activities by Judge Erik Salomonsen.
Hack was ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which restricts his contact with children and allows the police to monitor his online activity.
The judge told him:"There came a time when you went to Morrisons in Kingsbridge intending to make contact and meet. The purpose for that in your mind was unclear and there is no specific indication of sexual activity when you arranged to meet.

"In fact Felicity did not exist and had been created by a member of a paedophile hunting group. You were set up and succumbed to what you saw online."
He said he was suspending the sentence so Hack could continue to care for his grandmother and could undergo a treatment programme that was only available in the community.
Caroline Bolt, prosecuting, said a paedophile hunter from Wales named Jackie Kempson had created the online profile of Felicity which had attracted the interest of Hack.
Chat logs showed their conversation became sexualised after initial contact on November 7 and led to him suggesting a meeting at Morrison’s in Kingsbridge on November 18.

He was intercepted by members of Plymouth Against Paedophiles, who had been alerted by Ms Kempson, and who detained him until police arrived.
James Taghdissian, defending, said Hack is the main carer for his frail 84-year-old grandmother, who could not cope on her own without him. His role meant he was lonely and socially isolated.
He said Hack initially thought Felicity was 30 because of her profile name but accepts he carried on the web chats after she said she was 15.
He said Hack had suggested waiting until she was 16 before they had sex and had told her he did not want to do anything too sexual when they met.

Mr Taghdissian said:"He was not searching for a young child but came across somebody who initially purported to be much older. He was also told she was shortly turning 16 and there was a discussion about what they may do on her birthday."

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Ralph Sutton, 56, from Combe Martin, thought the girls were aged 12 and 13, but they were fake profiles set up by a self-appointed paedophile hunter.

He admitted five charges, including attempting to incite a child to sexual activity, and was jailed for 30 months.

Judge Phillip Wassall said he was "trawling for young girls on the internet".

Sutton was a town councillor in Combe Martin, Devon, where he moved to start a new life after a previous conviction in London in 2010.

'Fuelling fantasies'

The convictions were for downloading indecent images and trying to contact a 14-year-old girl online.

As a result he was subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which banned any internet contact with children.

But he flouted the order by contacting the girls on WhatsApp and messaging service Link, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Sutton suggested meeting the 13-year-old to take her out on his motorcycle and take part in sexual acts.

He was caught by secret vigilante group The Midlands Hunters, who alerted the police.

Warren Robinson, defending, said the offences happened when Sutton was suffering from depression and ill health.

He was fantasising rather than actually trying to arrange face-to-face contact, Mr Robinson said.

Sutton admitted two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child, attempting to incite a child to sexual activity, and two breaches of the SHPO.

Judge Wassall said: "It seems to have been more a question of fuelling your fantasies rather than deliberately intending to exploit the girls directly.

"Nonetheless, this was serious. You gave the clear impression of wanting to meet."

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A predatory paedophile who groomed teenage girls for sex has been jailed for six years.

Duncan Alistair Morgan, 24, pressured two girls into having sex and abused two others after becoming an “attraction” to them, Newport Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Jeremy Jenkins said the complaints against Morgan dated back to February 2011.

A police investigation, launched in June last year, uncovered evidence that Morgan was using his age to groom underage girls, he said.

“It became apparent from information that had been obtained that the defendant was associating with much younger children,” said Mr Jenkins. “It proved to be an attraction for these girls. He appeared laidback and cool, to use some of the expressions.”

Mr Jenkins said the first girl was at home when she was followed to an upstairs bedroom by Morgan who kissed her and put his hand down her trousers.

“He told her to forget about what happened and no-one else needed to know about it,” he said.

Mr Jenkins said Morgan targeted another underage girl by sending her flattering messages over Facebook.

“They were complimentary and designed to gain her attraction and her confidence,” he said.

He said Morgan, after convincing the girl to have sex with him over a car bonnet, sent a flurry of text messages offering to apologise.

A third victim, he said, was targeted for sex in a toilet.

The last victim had been drinking alcohol, but awoke to find Morgan with his hand down her trousers, he said.

“He took full advantage of his age and relative experience and independence to groom and attract these young girls,” said Mr Jenkins.

Morgan was arrested but denied all but one of his crimes to police, he told the court.

“He maintained that the girls were not telling the truth and denied, in some cases, that he knew of their ages.”

The case came to trial, but on the second day, Morgan, of Bridge Street, Abercarn, entered guilty pleas to the remaining charges.

Hugh Wallace, defending, said Morgan’s pleas had prevented the victims from having to give evidence.

Mr Wallace said Morgan, who pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual activity with a child, had penned a letter to Judge Daniel Williams outlining his difficult upbringing and expressing remorse.

“That must have been a difficult letter for him to write but he wrote it and it shows the life he’s had thus far has not been a pleasant experience.”

Jailing Morgan for a total of six years and three months, Judge Williams told him: “Your behaviour is properly described by the author of the pre-sentence report as predatory.

“Young girls have been put under pressure by you to have unwanted sex with you. They can never regain that which they have lost.”

Speaking after the hearing, Gwent Police Detective Sergeant Sarah Goodchild said: “We are pleased to see Duncan Morgan sentenced for the crimes he committed today.

“He consistently and deliberately befriended children then went on to sexually assault them. The impact of his crimes will undoubtedly have a long-lasting effect on the victims in this case, but it was their bravery in having the courage to come forward and give evidence that saw him brought to justice today.”