Description
The managing director of an 8 million technology firm who exchanged explicit messages with teenage girls on Snapchat has avoided going to jail.
Austin Kitchen, 36, posed as a 25-year-old man with flash pictures of his luxury Tesla and BMW cars.
He targeted three victims, including one girl, 15, who was bombarded with compliments from him on a daily basis and showered with gifts.
He told her: "You look really hot", adding: "I want to sleep with you, bend you over and throw you on the bed."
Kitchen, a married dad of two, also told another girl, 14, that she had "nice boobs".
The boss of family run Velden Engineering in Bolton, Greater Manchester, was arrested after the dad of one of the victims saw the explicit messages while checking his daughter's phone.
One message by Kitchen read: OMG, what Id give to have my head between your gorgeous legs right now.''
Others said: Is it wrong that I find the idea of you in a school uniform a turn on? If you wanted you could entertain me tonight with some pics and show me you're worth spoiling.''
Police searched the businessman's mobile phone and discovered a pornographic video of another unidentified girl, aged between 15 and 17, pleasuring herself.
The incidents happened between April and November 2017 after IT expert Kitchen took over as the managing director from his father.
The firm has featured twice in the BBC TV series Troubleshooter, with Sir John Harvey Jones.
In a statement the 15-year old victim's mother said: ''She was a bright child who wanted to do well in life and had dreams and aspirations for the future - but this has had a distressing impact on her.
''She has struggled in school in the final months and could not do well with the stress of the exams due to the thought of having to stand up in court in front of strangers.
"She tried to go to college but with her anxieties, she had to seek professional help after she said she didnt want to live anymore and she said she was self harming.
"We as a family feel this situation will have a lasting affect on her.''
Kitchen, of Horwich near Bolton, admitted to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual communication with a child and possessing indecent images of children.
He was given a 10 month jail sentence, suspended for two years at Bolton Crown Court.
This is after he told the court he is "addressing his issues".
The dad has been forced to live away from his partner of 20 years and their two daughters since his arrest.
Prosecutor Joe Boyd said: The first victim was aged 15, and she came into contact with someone on Snapchat with the name of Austin Delusham, now identified as the defendant.
''He contacted her everyday and said she was pretty and found her attractive.
"They spoke about her time at school and her problems at home and he would comment on all her photographs asking her to send him one in her school uniform, which she did.
"He responded saying you look really hot and told her he was 25.
''She confided she was 15, but that did not deter him and he continued to communicate with her.
"The conversation soon became sexual as the defendant told her he wanted to sleep with her, bend her over and throw her on the bed.
These comments scared her yet he meanwhile continued to ask her for images, contacting her throughout the night to the point she turned her wifi off in an attempt to stop the contact.
She then spoke to him about the fact her e-cigarette was broken and he immediately purchased one for her.
"He then said that it was her birthday coming up and promised to buy her lots of presents.
''She then asked for clothing and requested a North Face coat.
"She put it in the basket to highlight which one she wanted and he purchased it for her and sent it to her home address. Approx three weeks later he purchased some leggings for her explaining that he was helping to cheer her up.
''When she asked what he wanted in return he said that he wanted to sleep with her.
"She said she was unsure because of her age but he urged her to meet him and the two met on several occasions- although they were never alone.
''On the first occasion he met her at some local shops in Leigh.
"He attended at her request and brought her cigarettes.
"He then placed 20 in her coat pocket and when he drove away he messaged her saying did you like that money?.
"At the time she was with her friend. On another occasion he met her at Boothstown and gave her and her friend a lift to the park.
The two had now been communicating over a number of weeks and towards the end of this period, unbeknown to her, her father started to check her Snapchat account and he saw a number of messages between Kitchen and her that caused him a great deal of concern.
''He saw messages that said are you not ready yet? Looking sexy as f..k in your uniform? Xxx its wrong how much Id want to completely destroy you wearing that... things Id do would be so bad.
Please try and be patient BBE, Ive spent over 200 on you so far so you cant say Ive not been generous especially as its not even your birthday for a few months.
''You will get everything you want you just need to be patient and wait till we do more.
When he saw the messages he contacted the police.
Officers later spoke to colleagues in Hampshire who said Kitchen had also been chatting to two other girls from the south of the country.
One said he offered to buy her pizza from Domino's and asked for her address so the food could be sent there.
He also sent pictures of his cars, plus other pictures of his face and in return asked for "cheeky pictures" if she wanted him to get her a jumper she liked.
She also received a message from Kitchen saying he was driving ''down her way'' and asked if she wanted to meet him at a hotel.
The girl did not meet him.
The third victim said Kitchen showed her pictures of his Apple Mac computer and of jewellery from Pandora.
He asked if she liked the earrings and asked for her address. He also asked if she had a boyfriend and if she liked the website called Pretty Little Thing.
A few days later a pair of Pandora earrings arrived for her, and he asked her for a picture of her with the earrings.
The victim said the defendant knew she was 14 as he had seen her Instagram account.
He also asked her what body part she liked, saying she had "nice boobs".
The victim said she told him she was 14 and that she "didn't have any boobs".
On another occasion the defendant had offered to buy her a pizza but she refused.
In mitigation, Kitchen's lawyer Steven Swift said: He is someone who finds it very very difficult to talk to or discuss the substance of the allegations.
"He is taking steps and trying to address his thinking and there has been no further offending of the last two and a half years.
"As a result of the offences he is not living at home and he is living with his parents.''
Sentencing, Judge Richard Gioserano, said: You were engaged in grooming behaviour, in particular the use and promise of gifts to encourage those girls to interact with you.
"There was a significant disparity in age and you lied about your true age.
''You have been with your partner now for nearly 20 years.
"You have been a hard working family man.
"You have two daughters of your own. You worked hard and made your way through and up the family business and you are now the managing director of it.
"That fact does not save you but until now you have not shown signs of being capable of such a thing, according to your character references.
''You must now live with that, you must live with the harm, not only caused to the girls, but also the harm to your partner and your own children.
"There is little you, or I, can do to repair the emotional harm to those girls.
"I have reservations about your genuine remorse.
"In my judgement, you seem to be put in fear of addressing the whole of your distorted sexual thinking.
Kitchen was also ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work, abide by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years and sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of 1,800.