Locations
Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, DN35
Description
A 51-year-old paedophile was lured to an address in Hull as part of a sting operation and found with condoms and Haribo sweets.
Chef Darren Johnstone, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with teenage girls and pretended to be a 20-year-old. He was interviewed by Humberside Police for offences in 2018 and while under investigation he repeatedly tried to engage in sexual communication with more girls in 2020.
Grimsby Crown Court heard Johnstone who has "learning difficulties and low-level intelligence" did not realise the girls were decoys used by a paedophile hunter group called Elite Team. Michele Stuart-Lofthouse said the defendant was still under investigation for the 2018 offences when he was again arrested in 2020.
Johnstone also admitted possessing indecent images of children on his phone after it was seized on his initial arrest. She said a "decoy teenager" was set up by the paedophile hunter group who created a dating app.
Despite being told by the decoy teenager she was 14 years old, Johnstone sent a total of 605 messages, mostly of a sexual nature. He also sent images of his private area.
Ms Stuart-Lofthouse said: "The images were extremely sexual." The decoy agreed to meet him in Brisbane Street, Hull, where the paedophile gang waited for him.
He was arrested by police, who seized a quantity of condoms, Haribo sweets and 300 cash. The prosecutor said he could not offer an explanation for his behaviour, but admitted sending images.
"He said he had never had sexual relations or a girlfriend and had never spoken to a girl the way he did. He admitted talking to the 14-year-old girl and asking for sex," the prosecutor said.
While committing the second set of offences in 2020, Johnstone, of Cleethorpes, had described himself to a 13 year old girl, as a 20-year-old man. There were four separate occasions in which he sent images to the girls, which were in fact, decoys, used by the child protection group.
For Johnstone, Gordon Stables said: "The court is not dealing with a fully-functioning adult. The level of understanding is not there."
He said his client had attended a special school and when he was 16 years old took up a work placement at the St James' Hotel in Grimsby. He said: "They knew his limitations and he remained there for nearly 30 years."
He submitted psychiatric doctors reports which highlighted the defendant's "borderline understanding." Mr Stables said: "He could not understand that these decoys did not exist." He added the client thought he had been discharged following the first offences.
Recorder Alex Menary said it was "an exceptional case" and he was guided by the psychiatric reports on the level of Johnstone's intelligence. He said three years in prison would not provide adequate safety from the risk he posed.
He imposed a two-year community order in which he will attend 43 days of sex offender management and 55 rehabilitation days. He imposed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order to limit his access to the internet and ban any contact with children.