Locations
Hillcrest Road, Newhaven, East Sussex, BN9 9EZ
Description
A Newhaven man who engaged in sexualised online conversation with young girls has been sent to prison.
Andrew Leadbitter, 55, a service engineer, of Hillcrest Road, Newhaven, was given the sentence, totalling two and a quarter years, at Lewes Crown Court on 8 September.
He had admitted two offences of attempted sexual communication with two separate girls, attempting to engage a third girl in sexual activity, three offences of making indecent images of children and one offence of possessing extreme pornographic images.
He will be a registered sex offender for 10 years and was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to last until further court order, severely restricting his access to children and digital devices.
Detective Constable Gary Baker of the Sussex Police Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) said: "Leadbitter systematically sought out opportunities for sexual conversation with young girls, and went so far as to arrange a meeting with one of them only to back out at the last moment.
"However this activity came to our notice and he has now been brought to justice. We will continue to pursue such offenders in order to safeguard children."