Locations
Tan-y-Fron, Wrexham, LL11
Description
A MAN from Deganwy has been jailed after he used social networking platforms to groom a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
Eric Hughes, 40, of Tan-y-Fron, was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment at Caernarfon Crown Court today (May 15).
He was also made subject to sex offenders register notification requirements, and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), both for 10 years.
Prosecuting, Elen Owen told the court that, on April 6 and 7, 2022, Hughes sent sexualised messages on both Facebook and WhatsApp to a member of a group called “Child Online Safety Team”.
The group member was posing as a 14-year-old girl, to whom Hughes sent a Facebook friend request, which was then accepted.
After initial conversations, the group member told Hughes she was a 14-year-old girl from Newcastle; Hughes, 39 at the time, said he was aged 30 in response.
He then sent a picture of himself to her, adding: “I bet you look amazing in uniform”, with her telling him she was a school pupil.
The girl reiterated she was 14, with the group member sending Hughes a picture of a young girl; after which, Hughes continued making explicit sexual comments to her.
When the girl asked him if she would “get into trouble”, Hughes replied: “not if you don’t tell”.
A further exchange of messages later involved Hughes suggested “phone sex”, the meaning of which he explained explicitly to the girl after she told him she did not know what that was.
She declined, and Hughes sent her an apology the next morning, before further sexual messages followed from him.
The group’s administrators, and later the police, were then contacted, and Hughes was arrested on April 8, 2022.
In two police interviews, in both April and June 2022, he denied any responsibility or wrongdoing.
Hughes had also breached a five-year SHPO issued to him in March 2019 through his actions – one of the prohibitions of this order stopped him from joining, using or subscribing to any social media site.
He had also received a conditional caution in 2020 relating to an earlier breach of the SHPO.
Defending, Sarah Yates stressed that there was “no child involved” in Hughes’ offending, and that “no harm was caused”.
She described him as having a “very strong work ethic”, having held a job for about two decades.
Sentencing, Recorder Wyn Lloyd-Jones said Hughes was “incredibly lucky” not to have been jailed for the offences which landed him a SHPO in March 2019.
He also accused of Hughes of telling “blatant lies” to police in not taking responsibility for his actions.
Recorder Lloyd-Jones told Hughes: “What you did, and what came to light, exposed your intentions and your thoughts.
“You did this, there is no doubt whatsoever, for your own selfish sexual gratification.
“I can’t close my eyes to the fact that you were given a conditional caution in 2020 for a breach of the SHPO.
“You have re-offended despite treatment. You were given a chance; you threw it away. You behaviour hasn’t changed despite the work done with you.
“Other people are suffering because of your selfishness.
“If you breach that SHPO, you know exactly what will happen. The sentence will not be as short next time.”
Hughes will also pay a statutory surcharge, within three months of his release from prison.