Description
A pyromaniac who was previously jailed for life for setting fire to a curry house said "I feel sick" after he was outed as a paedophile.
Alan Cashman held daily lewd chats on Facebook with what he believed was a 14-year-old boy and exposed himself during a video call. But, unbeknown to him, he was being ensnared in a paedophile hunter sting.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Thursday, that the 39-year-old first contacted the decoy - which was being operated by the Saving Our Children Online group - on October 10 last year. Cashman, of no fixed address, sent the supposed youngster a friend request then began conversing with him on Facebook Messenger on a "daily basis" over the course of the next 12 days.
David Watson, prosecuting, described how the pervert sent a series of explicit images and performed a sex act during a video chat - encouraging him to do the same. A hunter then contacted him on another account, this time under the guise of an adult, and made arrangements to meet up for sex.
But he was confronted by group members at the rendezvous point on Greenheys Road in Toxteth on October 22 2022. When police attended the scene and arrested him shortly after 7.45pm, Cashman replied: "I feel sick."
His four previous convictions for four offences include two for arson, one of which saw him handed a life sentence in 2010 when aged 26. It came after he set a fire that ripped through the Spice City Indian restaurant, on Stanley Street in Liverpool city centre, and the flats above it in the early hours of August 9 2009.
Cashman then waited around to watch the building burn before, hours later, trying to pass himself off to the ECHO as a hero who had tried to save four residents trapped inside by the flames and smoke. But his lies were soon exposed and a judge described him as a "pyromaniac", having set rubbish in the rear doorway alight.
Residents described having woken up "choking on thick smoke", with one believing he may have to jump from his fourth floor apartment in order to escape the blaze. Others fled to the rooftop and clambered away onto other buildings.
Flames destroyed interior walls and the roof of the grade two-listed structure, causing an estimated £1.7million of damage. Cashman, then of Alfonso Road in Anfield, was given a minimum term of four years on this occasion.
He was locked up for the same offence in 2004 after picking up a 64-year-old man in Paco's Bar, also on Stanley Street, returning to his home in Huyton to continue drinking then setting fire to the property. The defendant was recalled on licence to prison following his latest crimes.
Ben Berkson, defending, told the court: "He has admitted to a sexual interest in children, which is often difficult for offenders to admit and is the only route to rehabilitation. He is intent on dealing with his sexual attraction to children.
"He is shocked and stunned that he is now a sex offender. He does demonstrate remorse for what he has done.
"He is exceptionally sorry and describes it as a big mistake. He is completely unaware and in the dark about when his release date is to be."
Cashman admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity and attempting sexual communications with a child. Appearing via video link to HMP Altcourse, he was jailed for 20 months as well as being handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and told to sign the sex offenders' register for the same period.
Sentencing, Recorder Jeremy Lasker said: "It is to your credit, and unusual in the experience of these courts, that you are a defendant who is prepared to accept that you have a sexual interest in young boys. I do accept a degree of remorse on your part."