Locations
Gateshead, Northumbria, NE9
Description
Matthew Jack, formerly Huckle, had been jailed twice previously for similar offending and is back behind bars for doing it four more times
An online predator caught time and again trying to have sex chats with children complained to a judge when told he wasn't allowed to serve his full prison sentence behind bars.
Matthew Jack, formerly known as Huckle, has repeatedly been caught by paedophile hunters posing as young girls online.
Jack, jailed twice before for attempted sexual communication with a child, was back in court after being caught four more times by various groups.
But when told he will be released at the half way point of his ten month sentence, he complained that he didn't want to be released early because he didn't want to work with probation.
When told that is the law, the 26-year-old sat with his head in his hands.
Newcastle Crown Court heard all of the new offences happened on an app called Whisper while he was using the name troutyellow.
In September 2019 he contacted the profile of a girl purporting to be 13, which was in fact a decoy set up by Geordie Chasers.
He asked for a picture and responded that it would be better without the leggings and that he "loved legs and wanted to see it all".
When asked for a picture of himself he replied "I would rather meet".
The second profile, also purporting to be 13 and on the same app, was contacted by Jack, who said he wanted to "meet and do what girlfriends and boyfriends do - kiss, cuddle, strip, touch each other".
He repeatedly asked for naked pictures and photos of her in a bikini, despite being told she didn't think her mother would allow it.
The third profile was being run by vigilantes Guardians of the North, posing as a 14-year-old called Hannah Young.
Jack said he wanted to meet and wanted her to wear a dress and that he wanted her to be his girlfriend and to have sex with her.
He asked for naked photos and said he would have sex with her the following day.
Another profile, a 14-year-old called Amy, was being run by Dark Justice, and they recognised him from catching him previously.
Jack asked to meet Amy in Elswick Park and said he would strip her.
The court heard he has eight previous convictions, including for sexual activity with a child in 2017.
He was jailed in November 2019 for two counts of attempting to engage a child in sexual activity and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
Then in August 2020 he was locked up again after being caught again within weeks of his release from prison.
Now he has admitted four counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.
Recorder Nicholas Lumley QC sentenced him to ten months in prison and imposed a new ten year sexual harm prevention order and sex offender registration.
The judge said Jack, formerly of Gateshead but of no fixed address, is a "troubled individual" with limited mental capacity but added: "You have chosen to ignore the rules and the order to stop you doing this.
"The pre-sentence report makes for worrying reading. You pose a risk, not least because you don't have insight.
"The public can only be protected in the short term by a prison sentence and that is what I must do."
Jack asked "can I do the full amount, I don't want to be released at half way" but was told it is the law that he is likely to be eligible for release after serving five months.
He replied: "The full point of me saying in the pre-sentence report I don't want to be under a community order is I don't want to deal with probation."
Alec Burns, defending, said the latest offences pre-date the last offences for which he was sentenced due to delays in bringing the case to court.