Record details
A paedophile was found hiding in a cupboard after sending a naked picture of himself to an undercover police officer.
Violent domestic abuser and convicted robber Wayne Jones, 34, then tried to shift the blame onto his innocent partner who was in hospital at the time. He appeared via videolink at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to one count of attempted sexual communication with a child and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH).
Kate Morley, prosecuting, told how Jones flew into a rage in Runcorn on March 25 last year when his then-partner - who we have chosen not to name - âconfrontedâ him and "questioned his sexuality" due to content she discovered on his phone. In her words, Jones âflippedâ and attacked her, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Ms Morley said Jones âjumped on (his victim), kneeling on her legs, and shouted in her face - she couldnât moveâ. In the ensuing struggle she grabbed his T-shirt and said she might have scratched him while âtrying to escapeâ, and he elbowed her in the face, knocking her glasses off.
She began to cry, and âdescribed not being able to breathe out of her nose and her lip was bleedingâ.
Officers learned of the incident during a routine welfare safeguarding visit a few days later. Jones, of Arden Drive, Speke, pleaded guilty to one count of ABH on the basis he didnât bite her.
The victim suffered bruises including to her nose, left eye, body, arms and legs. When interviewed by police, Jones said the claims were âlaughable and quite funny and all a lieâ.
In her victim personal statement, she said she realised she was a victim of domestic violence and when she read back what had happened - âit sounded like a film - I thought âis that my life?ââ She said sheâd completed âso many domestic violence coursesâ in the past but following the assault it âsank in, everything fell into placeâ adding: âI donât know why I protected him.â
Jonesâs conduct left her suffering âpanic attacks in the nightâ and waking up ânot being able to breathe like Iâm being strangled - the doctors think itâs post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)â. She was now trying to rebuild her life but had to move to another area, and away from friends and family, and no longer wants to go out and socialise but was âglad Iâve spoken upâ.
The assault happened around only a month after Jones had been engaging in a lewd conversation on social media with an undercover police officer he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. Ms Morley told the court Jones used the pseudonym âJohnJonesâ on Kik Messenger and said he was 32 years old.
The âgirlâ said she was 13, to which Jones replied âyeahâ. At first he asked âwhy are you on this, itâs dangerous for you?â He was back three weeks later in February, telling the âgirlâ he was âfrom Runcornâ and sent a picture of his genitals.
His watch and a âdistinctiveâ tattoo on his left wrist were enough for investigators to match the picture to Jones later on. When she said she was 13 years old, Jones made out he wasnât aware and said he âdidnât knowâ and told her not to message him.
He was back again on Valentineâs Day, February 14, asking the âgirlâ to chat on SnapChat, where he âimmediately asked for picturesâ, only to âdelete herâ when snubbed. Jones wasnât finished, and a week later messaged her on Kik asking if she wanted to see his genitals and perform a sex act. He also asked to see pictures of her breasts.
She refused and he branded her a âweirdoâ and told her to âf*** offâ, but a few days later made a similar request to see her genitals. Police enquiries linked the account to his then-partnerâs address in Runcorn - but she had been in hospital. Officers found the pervert Jones âhiding in a cupboard behind a wardrobe in a rear bedroomâ.
Police found the incriminating picture of Jonesâs genitals with watch and tattoo on his phone in addition to screenshotted messages, and although he had deleted Kik and SnapChat, the phone still contained files showing the apps had been previously installed.
Jones tried to blame the innocent victim of his domestic violence for the messages and picture, but police eliminated that as a possibility because she had been in hospital at the time and the phone had been traced to the residential property and they had been in communication with each other so âit couldnât be herâ.
When interviewed on April 1 he denied âever having a Kik accountâ.
Ms Morley said Jones had 22 convictions for 34 offences including multiple robberies, affray, dwelling and non-dwelling burglaries, ABH assaults, criminal damage, âexposureâ, possessing the Class B drug ketamine and possessing prohibited items in prison and most recently possessing a prohibited item namely a phone in prison for which he was sentenced to eight months in prison last April.
James Preece, defending, noted Jonesâs guilty pleas on the day of trial for the attempted sexual communication and day before trial for the ABH, and lack of previous child sex or domestic violence convictions.
He said the victimâs injuries were ânot serious injuries in all the circumstancesâ, and he said the victim statement referred to a course of alleged conduct that went beyond the scope of the convicted ABH offence, noting the court had ordered other charges to lie on file.
Mr Preece conceded the judge would impose consecutive sentences for the different types of crime, and as such he appealed to the âprinciple of totalityâ.
He added that father-of-three and former joinery worker Jones was âembarrassedâ by his child sex offence conviction and had found custody âdifficultâ, struggling with his âmental health and low moodâ.
Mr Preece said Jones said the reason why his last sentencing hearing was adjourned was because two men had attacked Jones with a broom handle in his cell on his âusual prison wingâ after he entered his guilty plea to the sexual communication matter.
The attack left him with âtwo black eyes, bleeding behind one eye and a gash to the front of his faceâ, as well as being moved to another wing. Mr Preece said Jones has been undertaking courses with a view to rebuilding his life after leaving prison.
Judge David Potter sentenced Jones to two years and two months in prison and placed him on the sex offenders register with Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years in addition to a restraining order.
He said the relationship between Jones and his then-partner had been âtoxicâ and troubled with âdifficulty from day oneâ
Commenting on the impact of Jonesâs domestic assault during his sentencing remarks, Judge Potter said: âShe now suffers from panic attacks and PTSD from the trauma sheâs been put through and as a result of the assault had to leave her home area and start again with no friends or family. This relationship is thankfully at an end and there will be a lengthy restraining order imposed today.â
The judge gave a factual chronology of the attempted sexual communication matter, adding: âYou denied that you had been responsible for those messages and in fact blamed the victim for being the author of those messages. You persisted with that denial right the way through until the beginning of your trial."
