Locations
Crest Hill, Buckfastleigh, Devon, TQ11
Description
A 57-year-old Devon man who arranged to sexually abuse a child has been jailed for five and a half years thanks to a police sting operation.
James Pidgeon, of Crest Hill, Buckfastleigh, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, as well as the distribution of indecent photographs of children and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which places restrictions on a person's access to the internet.
Pidgeon was sentenced at Exeter Crown Court on Tuesday, 3 October, to the jail term with an extended five years on license. He was also given an indefinite SHPO and forfeiture of digital devices order.
Exeter Crown Court heard how Pidgeon, a registered sex offender with prior convictions for possession and making indecent images of children, was already subject to an SHPO.
Despite the prevention order, he continued to commit online offences relating to children.
Following work carried out by the Devon and Cornwall Police Paedophile Online Investigation Team, Pidgeon was identified by investigators and an investigation was launched.
Meanwhile, a sting operation by the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU) revealed that Pidgeon was engaged in online conversations with someone he believed had access to a child. In fact, the person was a NEROCU police officer.
Transcripts of their online conversations showed that Pidgeon had bragged about how he had been a paedophile for more than 30 years and sent multiple indecent images and videos of children being sexually abused, some of which featured babies being abused.
Within these transcripts, Pidgeon talked of his desire to rape children, with his sexual preferences being female toddlers, and that the purpose of the meeting was to gain access to a child that he could rape.
They arranged to meet up on Torquay seafront where officers swooped in and made their arrest.
Pidgeon was remanded into custody in July this year and was charged with arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, distribution of indecent images of children and breach of a sexual harm prevention order.
Investigating Officer Detective Constable Sophie House said: “Despite being subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, this did not deter Pidgeon from continuing to commit online offences relating to children.