Martin Woodward 39

Description

A man arranged to meet a "13-year-old girl" at the shops for sex who was in reality an undercover police officer. Martin Woodward, of Conwy, fixed up the meeting but never went through with it.

But he contacted the girl called Leah - who was really an undercover police officer - later and was traced through the internet. Officers called at his home in the rural village of Llanfairtalhaiarn one morning and he was arrested.

The defendant pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence - sexual assault on a child. A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed him for five years and four months.

Prosecutor John Philpotts said the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit had discovered a user calling themselves Woody84 on the platform Chat 1B on June 20. He said they found that the defendant - Woodward - was communicating with a "13-year-old" child called Leah.

He said he was 38 which was true, and originally from Salford but now from North Wales, which was also true. But "13-year-old Leah" was really an undercover police officer, the court heard.

Mr Philpotts said their conversation moved to Google hangouts and became sexual. Woodward asked Leah "Are you a thong or a panties girl?" and made a reference to "Frenchies" or French knickers.

He said he would remove her knickers and and incited her to play truant from school to meet him for sexual activity. He sent her a photo of an "athletic" male - which was not of him.

And "Leah" sent her a photo of a young female - which was not Leah. The court heard that the following day, June 21, Woodward arranged to meet Leah at Chester Greyhound Retail Park at noon that day to have sex even though Woodward knew Leah was 13 and a virgin.

But Mr Philpotts said Woodward didn't go. The next day he messaged Leah to apologise. He then sent Leah a photo of a female in sexually-provocative clothes and asked her if she would wear the same clothes.

However police had identified Woodward using his Internet Protocol (IP) address which had his date of birth and address in it.

Officers went to his house in Cae Glas, Llanfairtalhaiarn near Abergele just before 7am on June 27 and he was arrested. He admitted several offences.

Ember Wong, defending, said her client had not gone to the Chester meeting and the image he sent was of a fully-clothed female. But she accepted it had been a "worrying development in his offending pattern." He was managing his depressive symptoms "entirely inappropriately".

He had pleaded guilty and wants to become a law abiding citizen. The judge Her Honour Nicola Saffman jailed Woodward for five years and four months for the arranging offence.

She also gave him a two-month, concurrent sentence for attempting to cause a female under 16 to engage in sexual communication between June 19 and June 27 this year.

She said the terms of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order from a previous offence will remain in place and Woodward must keep to notification requirements for a sex offender indefinitely.