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A registered sex offender well known to police thought he was preying on a vulnerable child when he was actually sending sexual text messages to a police decoy.
Steven Baker, 57, has found himself behind bars again for breaching several conditions of his sexual harm prevention order when he engaged in a conversation via text messages with someone he believed to be a 12-year-old girl.
After a lengthy engagement with the undercover officer Baker was arrested at his home in Ely, Cardiff, in June by officers from South Wales Police and the regional organised crime unit Tarian. Baker pleaded guilty to the charge of engaging in sexual communications with a child at the earliest opportunity, a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard on Wednesday.
He was sentenced to 22 months in prison, half of which he will serve behind bars. Following the sentencing detective inspector Mathew Davies, of Tarian, said Baker’s case “shows we are monitoring offenders to remove the most dangerous individuals from society who continue to offend”.
DI Davies said: “There is considerable work being undertaken to identify those offenders looking to exploit children online and preying on the most vulnerable in society." He added: “It is another notable result for Tarian and South Wales Police to identify this offender attempting to target vulnerable children. By working closely with South Wales Police we were able promptly to detain Baker to prevent him for committing further offences. It is paramount that we safeguard children and the most vulnerable within our communities and working closely with all southern Wales forces we will continue to target those offenders looking to exploit children."