Rhodri Jones 44

Description

A former teacher sent pictures of his penis to what he believed was a 12-year-old girl, a court has heard. In fact Rhodri Jones was engaging in sexual conversations online with an undercover police officer.

Swansea Crown Court heard Jones' teaching career came to an end following concerns raised by parents about his "inappropriate behaviour" with girls which included flirting with a 16-year-old student and offering her private tuition. Sending the defendant to prison a judge told him he clearly had an "entrenched sexual interest in young women and children".

Sian Cutter, prosecuting, said on June 14, 2022, the defendant initiated contact with a profile on the social media platform Chatiw which purported to belong to a 12-year-old girl - in reality the profile was a decoy account being operated by an undercover police officer. The prosecutor said Jones and the decoy exchanged messages on the site before he gave the decoy his Snapchat details and the conversation moved to that app. The court heard that during the conversation Jones boasted to the "girl" about the size of his penis, and also sent her a number of pictures of his penis.

The following month officers went to the defendant's house and arrested him. Officers seized a number of electronic devices and also took a picture of the blankets on his bed, bedding which matched that seen in the background of the pictures he had sent the decoy. He subsequently answered "no comment" to all questions asked in interview.

Rhodri Jones, 44, of Phoebe Road, Copper Quarter, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communications with a child when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has a previous conviction from 2016 for sending indecent images to an 18-year-old girl. The court heard a series of concerns had been raised about Jones' conduct and "inappropriate behaviour" during his teaching career between 2003 and 2011 which included him harassing a pupil, offering to give a girl a lift in his car, and flirting with a 16-year-old girl and offering her private tuition.

Alycia Carpanini, for Jones, said the defendant was a binge drinker, and the offending happened when he was drunk. She said her client was a carer for his mother who was in ill-health, and that he works online for a university book publisher in an administration role. Jones had completed the Horizon sex offenders programme following his previous conviction, the court heard. The barrister also pointed to the delay in the case with the offending taking place in June 2022 and the matter not coming before the courts until January 2024.

Judge Daniel Williams told the defendant it was clear he had an "entrenched sexual interest in young women and girls", and said a pre-sentence report had concluded he posed a high risk of serious harm. He said he did not think there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in Jones' case, and said the offending was far too serious for any sentence other than one of immediate custody. With a one-third discount for his guilty plea, Jones was sentenced to 12 months in prison - he will serve up to half that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant will be on the sex offenders register for the next 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same length of time.