Richard Baker 52

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A SEXUAL predator from Southampton has been jailed for a total of eight-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to offences against children.

Richard Baker, 50, of Smythe Road, was arrested after using a messaging app to contact someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

He tried to win her trust by giving her "advice" on how to stay safe around men and sending her selfies and photos of his dogs.

But he then started sending explicit pornography and expressing a desire to hug her, saying it was up to her if it were an "undressed hug".

They agreed to meet in Fareham on January 18 - but the girl was not real. When he arrived he was arrested with a camcorder in his possession.

In a prepared statement he gave at the time Baker said he was "trying to explain and warn the girl about how boys can be".

But he later confessed to sending the messages and trying to meet up with a child for sex.

On February 14 Baker pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and attempting to cause a child to watch an image of sexual activity.

He also pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault against a girl aged 13-15 when he was in his early twenties.

Baker was jailed at Portsmouth Crown Court and will be put on the sex offenders' register for life.

Under an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order he will also be banned from having unsupervised contact with children or going within five metres of school grounds. If he breaches the order he will be arrested and sent back to prison.

Officers from Hampshire Constabulary investigated the case with support from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU).

DS Heather Hudson, of Hampshire Constabulary, said: By taking Baker off the streets, we have removed a dangerous predator from our community.

With young people having ready access to the internet and mobile phones, it is more important than ever that parents stay vigilant and educate their children about how to keep safe online."

DS Hudson said the messages sent by Baker illustrated the tactics sexual predators were willing to use to win a childs trust.

She added: "I hope this sentence demonstrates the lengths we go to in order to keep children safe from sexual exploitation and abuse, and also might encourage any survivors of child sexual abuse to speak to us.

You will be heard, you will be taken seriously and you will be supported in whatever decisions you wish to make.