Brian Greenaway 58

Description

A convicted sex offender who had twice been spared prison in just eight months completely ignored the chances that he was given and soon started sending highly sexualised messages to a decoy 12-year-old girl.

Heavy drinker Brian Greenaway thought that he was talking to a real girl and he sent explicit pictures of himself to her. He even warned her that she ought to be careful who she chatted to online because she was young, Hull Crown Court heard.

Greenaway, 58, of Spring Bank West, Hull, admitted attempting to engage in sexual contact with a child, attempting to invite a child to engage in sexual activity and failing to comply with his notification requirements as a sex offender. Stephen Welch, prosecuting, said that a member of an online anti-child abuse group became aware of communications by Greenaway with a decoy 12-year-old girl on Facebook and then WhatsApp between September 1 and 4 last year.

Greenaway used his correct name and said that he was 57. His profile contained details about him and it included his date of birth and his home city. These correctly matched Greenaway's actual details.

He sent a clothed picture of himself, saying "That's me" and he warned the fake girl: "Just be careful who you chat with on here." He told her "You're young" and asked if she had a boyfriend.

Greenaway contacted her again and said: "Hi, it's Brian". The conversations became more sexualised and he started using more graphic language. He told her where to find an intimate part of her body, but he asked her to delete the messages, saying it was "because I'm an adult and you're a minor".

He sent a picture of his private parts to the decoy girl and he asked her for an intimate picture of herself. He also sent a video of himself committing a sex act and he talked about sexual matters.

He was arrested on September 6 and his phone was seized. He had convictions for 80 previous offences, including indecently assaulting a girl and gross indecency with a girl.

He also had convictions for failing to register his details as a sex offender in 2003 and 2005 and engaging in sexual communication with a child in West Park in January last year, when he was given a suspended six-month prison sentence and ordered to register as a sex offender for seven years.

He was back in court in August last year for breaching the order, but it was allowed to continue. The latest offences were in breach of that order.

'Lonely and naive'

Hannah Turner, mitigating, said that the offences took place over a short period of time spanning seven days and Greenaway admitted that there was a "disparity of age" between him and the fake girl. He had a worrying list of previous convictions, but he was lonely, naive and perhaps vulnerable at the time.

He had shown significant remorse for his actions. "He has readily acknowledged that he has a problem with alcohol," said Miss Turner.

Judge Mark Bury told Greenaway: "You contacted who you thought was a 12-year-old girl. Before very long, the conversation became more sinister and sexual. You knew what you were doing because you asked her to delete your conversations.

"There was no actual harm done to any child because there wasn't one. It was a decoy. I can't ignore your intention. You knew full well that you were talking to a 12-year-old girl and you were instructing her to carry out sexual acts for your own sexual gratification.

"This wasn't just once but a number of times, albeit over a short period of time. The time now has come where you have to serve a prison sentence.

"You haven't complied with the suspended sentence order. You have reoffended. You fully believed that it was a real 12-year-old. You were sending to her pornographic pictures."

Greenaway, who was already in custody on remand, was jailed for two years and four months. The sentence included a consecutive six months after the suspended sentence from last year was activated. The phone will be forfeited.

Approached children in West Park

At a previous hearing in August, the court heard that Greenaway landed himself in hot water after going to probation service meetings while "under the influence of alcohol" and drinking while he was there. He was also "making sexual innuendos to people" and it "could not be more ironic" that he was doing that in view of why he was actually there, the court heard that day.

Greenaway had originally been spared prison for making completely inappropriate sexually charged comments to children in West Park, Hull. He had admitted engaging in sexual communication with a child at the park in 2020.

Greenaway had been brought back before the court in August when he admitted breaching the order. He either failed to attend the Horizon sex offender programme or had been drinking before doing so. He attended while under the influence of alcohol and then drank while he was there.