Description
A WREXHAM man has been jailed after he engaged in sexual chat with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.
Kevin Griffiths, of Coed Aben, appeared at Mold Crown Court for sentence on Thursday.
The 51-year-old had previously admitted two counts of attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity, one of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and two of breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
Brian Treadwell, prosecuting, told the court the defendant was made the subject of a 10 year SHPO in 2017.
It prohibited him from using any website to contact anyone he knew or suspected to be under 16 years old, as well as sending unsolicited sexual images to anyone.
He was handed a suspended sentence in 2020 for failing to comply with notification requirements under the sexual offences act.
In the current offences, Mr Treadwell explained that over the course of 10 days in January this year, Griffiths contacted someone he believed to be a young girl online, introducing himself under a different name.
He was told very quickly by the person he was speaking to that she was 14.
But in fact this was a decoy account, not a real child.
Despite what he had been told, Griffiths continued the conversation - which he turned increasingly sexual.
He went on to suggest the girl engage in sex acts and sent her a picture of his naked genitalia.
Police attended his home on January 16 this year and arrested him, seizing his phone.
Simon Rogers, defending, told the court that at no point did his client attempt to meet the girl he believed he was speaking to, and that the contact had been over a limited period of time.
"When one looks at the messages, he explained, "there's no sophistication to them.
"In fairness to him, he has not sought to minimise his involvement - he accepts full responsibility.
"The conclusion of a psychiatric report states he is experiencing features of a persistent complex bereavement disorder, and there may also be the presence of a neurological developmental disorder.