Kenneth Rock 73

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A grandad who confessed he was attracted to children after asking a man posing online as a schoolgirl to strip naked for him has been locked up. Married man Kenneth Rock was duped into thinking he was sending 'highly sexualised' messages to a 13-year-old girl but he was actually talking to a man hunting for criminals.

The 71-year-old told her she was 'cute' before boasting about kissing another teenager at a social club. The convicted fraudster also had a 'long-standing habit' of scouring the internet for vile child sex abuse pictures and was caught with a secret stash in his Black Country home.

But the paedophile blamed his sick offending on his 'sexless' marriage after telling police he had been 'bored' at home. Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how a man from an online child protection group was running a decoy account pretending to be a schoolgirl on social media platform Twoo. 

Rock made contact with the profile in December 2020, with the girl telling him she was 13 and the defendant replying "wow you look good". He asked if she had a boyfriend before telling her she looked 'cute' in her profile picture and requesting more photographs.

Prosecutor Jamie Scott said: "[Rock said] he doubted her mother would allow them to meet because he would be perceived, in his own words, as a pervert." The sex offender said he would teach the girl how to kiss and that it would be their 'secret' before asking about sex education and whether he could be her teacher.

He claimed he kissed other girls of a similar age, including a 14-year-old girl at his local social club. The defendant, of Hinchliffe Avenue Coseley, went on to say he wanted her to wear shorter skirts and continued to ask for photographs, including in her uniform.

Rock also made lewd comments and said he wanted to be the 'first guy'. The court heard how the convict told the girl he wanted to meet but Coronavirus restrictions at the time meant he could not travel.

Rock cancelled a meeting the pair had arranged as he was living in a Tier 3 area during the pandemic but continued with his sexualised comments.

He said he could not stop thinking about them being together and suggested picking the girl from her school. Rock - who has a 20-year-old conviction for benefit fraud - messaged the girl over a three-month period.

He was caught when the child protection group conducted 'impressive amateur detective work' and confronted Rock at his then-home in Parry Road, Wolverhampton, on November 11 last year. His wife answered the door before Rock admitted his offending, the court heard on September 29.

Mr Scott added: "He admitted he had been talking to the girl. He admitted that it was wrong for him to do and he admitted that he was attracted to children."

Police arrested the sex offender, who then claimed he only messaged the girl because he was 'bored' and denied having any intention to meet up with her. Officers searched his home and discovered a mobile with Twoo messages, along with a PC tower in a garage shed which contained 476 indecent images within a folder called "Ken's pics".

They later discovered he had been searching for child pornography - featuring children as young as two - for seven years from 2013 until just two months before his arrest, Mr Scott said. Simon Hans, defending, said Rock has been impotent since 2017.

His wife has kicked him out of the family home but the estranged couple is still in contact and could reconcile. Rock has lost most of his friends, while his children and grandchildren have 'walked away' from him.

Mr Hans added: "He appears to have turned towards this type of conduct as a result of the fact that his marriage became sexless. It first became sexless because his wife was no longer interested.

Rock admitted attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child, attempting to cause or incite a girl aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity and three counts of making indecent photographs of children.

Sentencing, Judge Barry Berlin said Rock's messages were 'highly sexualised' and jailed the defendant for 16 months for his 'awful offending'.