Andrew Barnard 55

Description

Despite using a fake name on his Facebook page Barnard was identified by members of the vigilante groups who then turned up at his house before calling the police. The defendant's advocate told Swansea Crown Court that his client's life had been a "lonely one" and he had spent increasing amounts of time online.

Georgia Donohue, prosecuting, said the offending took place in November 2022 when the defendant, using the name William Stanley on Facebook, contacted the profiles of what appeared to be 14-year-old girls. She said profiles were actually decoy accounts being operated by adults acting as part of online paedophile hunter groups. The court heard Barnard started messaging the first profile and asked her whether she had a boyfriend and asked her if she had ever heard odd noises coming from her parents' bedroom. The pair then exchanged phone numbers and began communicating by text.

Later that month Barnard began messaging a second Facebook profile and his conversation with what he thought was another 14-year-old girl quickly turned sexual in nature. The court heard the defendant talked about masturbation with the girl and said he would teach the child how to do it. He also told her all men would want sex with her because she was "beautiful" but they couldn't because of her age and told her to keep their conversation secret.

The prosecutor said by December 1 the two groups behind the decoy profiles identified Barnard as the person behind the William Stanley Facebook page and turned up at his home address. Police were contacted and Barnard was arrested at 7.22pm that evening. In his subsequent interview the defendant answered "no comment" to all questions asked.

Andrew Barnard, now aged 56, of Brynmill Avenue, Brynmill, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communications with a child and to attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.

Dan Griffiths, for Barnard, said it was acknowledged there was only one kind of sentence the court could impose and his mitigation went only to the length of the custodial sentence. He said Barnard experienced an "extremely difficult childhood" at the hands of his abusive father and at an early age was diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He said Barnard's life had been a "lonely one" and he had spent increasing amounts of time online. The advocate said it was still to be explored whether the defendant's "adverse childhood experiences" were correlated to his offending but he said Barnard was anxious to take advantage of any help that professionals could provide.

Judge Geraint Walters told Barnard that the public have a "huge distaste" for the kind of behaviour he had engaged in. With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas Barnard was sentenced to 27 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. The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same length of time to manage his access to the internet. Sending the defendant down the judge told him if he had been talking to real girls rather than decoys his sentence would have been "a great deal longer".