Record details
A judge who jailed a man for more than six years after he carried out a string of offences - including robbing vulnerable sex workers and asking teenage girls to have sex with him in return for ÂŁ2,000 - said it was "by no means pure chance" that the majority of his victims were females.
Luke Smerdon, aged 35, from Exeter Road, Ivybridge appeared at Plymouth Crown Court after pleading guilty to a slew of offences, including robbery, attempted robbery, six malicious communication charges and causing or inciting a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity.
Sentencing Smerdon, Judge Robert Linford said he noted that Smerdon had a previous offence for robbery in Ivybridge where he threatened a female shop worker with a knife.
He handed Smerdon a series of sentences for each of the offences, totalling 77 months - six years and five months. He was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order. Restraining orders were also put in place.
Prosecutor Bethany Rickerby outlined the offences, including sending malicious communications to several victims, including a hand-written letter posted through the letterbox of another Ivybridge man. The letter stated: “Stop giving cocaine to children - you don't see me very often but when you do I will rip you, your friend and your family to shreds" and was signed "your secret admirer". When confronted by this victim, Smerdon claimed he'd been paid £20 to put it through the man's letterbox.
A female victim received a Facebook message from a person calling themselves Shane Blackwell - a fake account which was set up by Smerdon - stating "If you ever slag me off in the Exchange [a pub] again I will ram a knife down your throat you silly little slag". When she asked who 'Shane' was, Smerdon replied: "I will wait for you one night after you finish your shift".
Another woman was sent a message on August 8 from 'Shane' saying "I'll give you £300 for a shag". The woman wrote back telling him not to contact her again, whereupon he replied, stating he would “pop round and see your c*** boyfriend later and smash your windows in”, adding “I'm going to get someone to f***ing rape you, you whore".
The woman was later told Smerdon had sent the messages and when she asked if he wanted to apologise, he said he was going to "wait a few weeks" and then send "wine and flowers", adding "I must've been super drunk. It was a joke".
At a later police interview he admitted creating the fake Facebook profile, claiming the messages were sent when he was drunk and he couldn't remember sending them. He said the tone of the messages to the women were due to his obsession with fantasies and murder mysteries.
He was released on conditional bail not to go into Ivybridge, but he then began drinking in Plymouth, which was where one of his victims lived, which the court heard left her fearful for herself and her family.
Ms Rickerby told the court that in 2023 Smerdon approached a sex worker in Plymouth paying her a pair of wireless headphones for oral sex. However, in early July 2023 he engaged her services again, this time offering her ÂŁ40 for oral sex. They headed to an abandoned car where they completed their transaction.
However, the court heard this time he threatened to stab her if she did not return the ÂŁ40. Fearful for her safety she handed back the money and fled. She later told police the tone of Smerdon's voice made her believe she would be hurt regardless of whether she gave the money back or not.
Two weeks later, Smerdon sought out another sex worker in Plymouth. He drunkenly offered her ÂŁ50 for sex with a condom and they headed to a nearby industrial estate car park. On the way, they spotted the first sex worker who issued a warning to her fellow sex worker about Smerdon, saying he was "dangerous" and would try and take the money back, but this was ignored and put down to jealousy.
The woman refused to get into an abandoned vehicle, telling Smerdon she was afraid he would do something, like "try and knife" her, so they had sex beside a vehicle after she had put the money into her bra. However, as she walked away he grabbed her and attempted to put his hand over her mouth, grabbing at the money he'd given her. She fled and later found the first sex worker, whereupon they both contacted police. Officers later found Smerdon asleep in another vehicle in a car park.
During interview he made a series of claims, stating that with regards the second sex worker, they had agreed to have sex for ÂŁ40 but while they were having sex she had "seen his Jack the Ripper tattoos which had caused her to panic and try and leave". He said that he took issue and try to get his money back and that he "may have held [her] by the throat".
He changed this story after he was shown CCTV footage of him grabbing at her beside the vehicle, claiming that she had asked him for sex and then changed her mind "midway through" and tried to leave, causing him to become angry and take the money back, resulting in a struggle. He insisted he could not have robbed her as "she was selling an illegal act anyway".
The court heard that in early July a woman in the Noah's Ark pub in Courtney Street had her bank card taken and later found it was used a number of times, totalling ÂŁ656.46. When Smerdon was arrested on July 27, 2023 the card was found in his possession.
Ms Rickerby said the final offence took place on September 11, 2023 just outside of Plymouth Pavilions. At around 5.45pm a 15-year-old girl and two 16-year-old girls were standing on a grassy area and were approached by Smerdon - who appeared to be in drink - and asked them if they would have sex with him.
The 15-year-old pulled out her phone and recorded him as he first offered them ÂŁ1,000 and then ÂŁ2,000 for sex, as well as a pair of AirPods for oral sex. When he was told they were all 16 or under, he replied: "I'm not worried about that."
He began to ask each one individually for sex before one girl replied: "F***, no". After further refusals he finally walked away.
Ms Rickerby said Smerdon saw CCTV footage released by police and cut off his Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS) tag, fled his address before giving himself up to police a few hours later.
During interview he first claimed he was not the man in the CCTV footage video, claiming it had been dubbed over to sound like him, then claimed he had been set up by the girls who had been waiting for him on a street corner. He also denied he had been drunk. When he was shown the footage of him approaching the girls, he said he could not be sure it was him as he had blacked out.
However, when he was eventually shown the phone footage, he admitted to making up a "cock and bull story" and admitted asking them for sex. He said he was very drunk and thought the girls were 16 years old.
In mitigation, Smerdon's advocate said the incident involving the teenage girls was incitement but there was no contact and it was a relatively short incident. In addition, while in prison on remand he had addressed a number of his "difficulties".
Sentencing Smerdon, Judge Robert Linford said the malicious communications related to "frankly hideous threats of violence and more directed towards people to whom you seem to have borne a grudge".
He cited the violence, paying someone to carry out a rape, ripping a family to shreds, threatening to kill someone. He said these were "deeply disturbing, violent, frightening messages." Judge Linford said when arrested, Smerdon admitted them, claiming they were a joke that went too far, but "none of them were funny".
While on bail for those offences he then committed robberies, which Judge Linford said had a "theme - that theme was they were sex workers". He said Smerdon threatened to stab one and she had fled "terrified". He said the second female victim was warned by the first but "unwisely, but no doubt desperate for money" she carried out the transaction.
He said that he was again arrested and interviewed yet was "inexplicably admitted to bail, again".
The final incident, again while on bail, involved underage girls, but even after they told him their age "you did not care. You were like an animal, preying on young vulnerable girls for your own selfish sexual desires".
Lead investigator Det Con Adam Fitzpatrick said: "Luke Smerdon is a dangerous individual who has made multiple attempts to target women in Devon and Cornwall. The sentence he received today at court is the result of three cases and multiple officers hard work and dedication to bring him to justice."
