Locations
Massingham Park, Taunton, Somerset, TA2
Description
A sex offender who initially avoided a jail term is in prison after judges said his first sentence was too low.
Ionut Voicu, 36, admitted engaging in sexual communications with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl, with the intention of having sex with her.
He found he was messaging an undercover police officer when he sought to meet the girl for sex and was then arrested.
Voicu, of Massington Park, Taunton, Somerset, has now been jailed for three years and four months.
He had initially been made subject of a community order for three years on the condition he attended an offender treatment programme and did 40 hours of unpaid work.
'Appalled'
But his sentence was increased last Thursday after the Solicitor General, Lucy Frazer, intervened and referred it to the Court of Appeal.
She said: "I was appalled by Voicu's intentions and it was only thanks to the vigilance of our police that his criminality did not extend further.
"I welcome the decision of the Court of Appeal to increase his sentence to properly reflect the severity of his actions."
Voicu will also be subject of a sexual harm prevention order for five years, which he was originally given as part of his sentence after admitting eight offences on 14 May at Taunton Crown Court.
They included five counts of causing a child to watch or look at an image of sexual activity, two counts of having sexual communication with a child and another of attempting to arrange or facilitate a child sex offence.