Paul Pickerill 68

Description

A cyber pervert who was snared in an online sting told some pretending to be a 13-year-old girl she was a young woman now and ready for sex.

Paul Pickerill, 65, of Lockgate West, Windmill Hill, Runcorn, was sent down today at Chester Crown Court after appearing by videolink and having pleaded guilty previously in magistrates court to attempting to incite a child aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity and attempting to engage a child in sexual communication.

Philip Clemo, prosecuting, recounted how a volunteer with the paedophile hunter group Net Justice became involved with a conversation on March 11 with Pickerill via the Twoo social media website, where he was using the name Paul55StokeOnTrent.

They quickly switched to the encrypted chat app WhatsApp and the decoy - which was really an adult - told Pickerill she was 13.

Pickerill claimed he was younger than he really was, and said he was 55 years old.

When he asked if shed had her first period and she replied yeah, he said she was a young woman now and ready for sex, adding they could keep it a secret and use condoms and the morning-after pill.

Over a spell of nearly three weeks until March 30, cyber creep Pickerill made various sexual suggestions to the fake girl, and sent her pictures of his car and of him with his dog, plus indecent pictures of himself and a video clip of him performing a sex act on himself.

Pickerill, who asked for pictures of the girl and asked her to perform a sex act on herself, also referred to waiting for her grandmother to fall asleep, so he could slip into her bed while she was asleep.

When the "girl" told him she was a child, he retorted you wont be when we have sex, adding dont worry, Ill be gentle.

Net Justice held an intervention and Pickerill was arrested.

He made no comment during his interview with Cheshire police.

Pickerill had three non-relevant convictions for four offences from the 1970s and had never spent time behind bars before being remanded into custody to await sentencing.

Jeremy Rawson, appearing for the defence, pleaded mitigation for his clients prompt guilty pleas, which he said showed remorse, and he referred to the latest court of appeal case law for offences involving decoys, which ruled that sentences should be set to the sentencing starting point for the intended harm then adjusted downwards to reflect that an act did not occur and there was no real child.

He said a pre-sentence report suggested Pickerill could be managed via a non-custodial sentence.

Pickerill, who appeared via videolink from prison, also suffered depression and was hard of hearing, and no longer worked due to a road traffic collision in 2011, Mr Rawson said.

Judge Michael Leeming, presiding, cast doubt on Pickerills supposed remorse, noting how he sought to minimise his behaviour during his pre-sentence report probation interview.

Placing the cyber pervert on the sex offenders register for 10 years alongside a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, the judge said the offences were too serious for a suspended sentence, and sentenced Pickerill to one year and eight months in prison to be served immediately.

Sending him down, Judge Leeming said: You didnt seek to hide the fact you were far older than she was.

You lied about your age, you told her you were 55 - you were 65.

He added: Its clear you sought to minimise your behaviour throughout the probation officers report, telling her you had done nothing wrong and were only conversing through boredom and isolation., and had only pleaded guilty on legal advice.

Pickerill will also have to pay a victim surcharge.