Jonathan Strain 37

Description

A man sent "vile and explicit" messages to someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl he had met online. Jonathan Strain told the child he was looking "for horny girls who want video call fun" and said he wanted to "trade" nude photographs. He also told what he thought was a schoolgirl not to tell her friends about what was going on as it was their secret.

Swansea Crown Court heard the 37-year-old was actually engaging in sexual conversations with an adult who was volunteering as part of an online so-called paedophile hunter group. Sending the defendant to prison a judge told him he had an "unhealthy and deviant interest in pre-teenage girls".

James Hartson, prosecuting, told the court that in October 2021 Strain made contact with a profile on the Wink app purporting to be that of 12-year-old girl living in the Manchester area. After chatting with what he believed to a girl Strain asked for her mobile number and the exchanges moved to WhatsApp. The prosecutor said in reality Strain was communicating with a decoy account being operated by "in effect vigilantes" with an online group.

The court heard that over the following months the defendant engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the profile, encouraged her to perform sex acts on herself, and sent her videos of himself masturbating. He also called the girl "beautiful" and "gorgeous", said he loved her, and offered to be her first boyfriend saying they could do "boyfriend and girlfriend stuff" together. Strain also said he was looking "for horny girls who want video call fun" and offered to buy the child a mobile phone with a camera, and said he wanted to "trade" nude photographs. He told the girl she could trust him "100%". The court heard that during one conversation the defendant asked the girl if she had school the next day and told her not to tell any of her friends about what was going on as it was their "secret". 

The conversations lasted for around four months before the group operating the decoy passed the information to a paedophile hunter group in Wales and in March 2022 members of the local group went to the defendant’s address. Strain wasn’t at home but his details were passed to the police and later that evening he was arrested. The court heard that in his subsequent interview the defendant said he had lost his mobile phone before the conversations with the decoy took place.

Jonathan Strain, of Treherbert Street, Cwmann, Lampeter, Carmarthenshire, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions. Ian Ibrahim, for Strain, described the defendant as "shy" and "introverted" and as someone who doesn't talk to anyone.

Judge Huw Rees said Strain had engaged in "vile and explicit conversations", and he told the defendant he had an "unhealthy and deviant interest in pre-teenage girls". With a 20% discount for this guilty pleas Strain was sentenced to four years and seven months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Strain will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.