Locations
Rochdale, Greater Manchester
Description
A SEX offender caught out by a police team dedicated to protecting vulnerable children online has been jailed.
Liam l’Anson North, 29, was sentenced to three years and four months yesterday (Monday, July 24) at Leeds Crown Court after being found guilty by a jury of three online child sex offences.
He thought he was in contact with a young child but was in fact speaking with undercover West Yorkshire Police staff.
He was found guilty of offences of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and two offences of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
His activity first came to light in mid-2021 when an account using an alias created by l’Anson North, from Middleton in Rochdale, made contact via social media with a West Yorkshire Police-controlled account.
Thinking the person he was speaking with was a 13-year-old female, the male engaged the account holder in conversation which quickly became sexual.
He was arrested by officers in June 2021 and charged on February 18, 2022, to appear before magistrates.
Investigations in the case were carried out by the Kirklees Online Investigation Team and the West Yorkshire Police Digital Forensics Unit.
Working together the teams were able to uncover a number of messages from l’Anson’s devices - despite the attempts he made to delete them and hide his activity.
PC James Hackman of the Online Investigation Team, said: “We welcome the sentencing of L’Anson North and believe he poses a real risk to young children.
“In his conversations, he demonstrated clear intent to commit serious sexual offending against young children, and it is fortunate the person he thought he was speaking with was actually a police officer.”
He added: “A key part of this investigation was the very close working between Kirklees officers and our specialist colleagues at the Digital Forensics Unit which provided us with a full picture of activity L’Anson North would rather have stayed hidden.
“This case should also make very clear to those who think they can ‘cover their tracks’ when engaging in child sexual offending that force specialists are extremely skilled at retrieving deleted evidence from phones and computer equipment.”