Description
Dangerous sex offender Callum Townsend has been jailed after he tried to meet up with a 15-year-old boy for sex. The 32-year-old - who has a history of committing sexual offences - pretended to be a 20-year-old woman named Amy in a bid to lure his victim into meeting him.
The offence happened shortly after he was released from jail on licence. Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard he also asked a 15-year-old boy to send images of himself and used other alias names.
Now Townsend has been sentenced to a 10-year extended jail sentence to protect the public as he is deemed to be a dangerous offender.
portraying himself as a 12 or 13-year-old girl to another pervert on Kik was 'stoking the flames of his warped cravings and your own'
Prosecutor Hunter Gray said the defendant was jailed for 38 months in 2021 for three charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity; sexual activity with a child; and failing to surrender to custody. He was placed on the sex offenders' register and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for life.
He was released on licence on November 18, 2022. But on March 12 last year police attended Townsend's home and he was asked to hand over his devices, an iPhone and an Acer laptop.
"The defendant had accessed a number of apps which were not showing on his phone - gaming apps, CryptoCurrency apps, a drop box cloud app and Telegram Messenger.
"An examination of his phone revealed he had been exchanging messages with a 15-year-old boy between February 9 and March 2, 2023. The messages had been deleted. The defendant posed as a 20-year-old woman called Amy. The boy told him he was 15 and still at school. The defendant asked for images of him.
"He sent a video of a couple having sex. He asked the boy if he had Telegram, a more secure application. They arranged to meet up for the purpose of meeting for sexual activity. The defendant sent the boy images of a woman. He pretended to be Amy."
Townsend asked the boy to send him a picture and the victim sent an image of his lower half. Townsend persisted and asked him to take his shorts off. Mr Gray added: "It was a breach of the SHPO to be in communication with someone under 16. He arranged to meet someone under 16 for the purpose of a sexual encounter."
The defendant also sent out messages asking to be added on Snapchat under an account name Nevexx200 and messaged someone under another alias, sending images of a blonde woman and encouraging the recipient to send images of himself.
Townsend, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two charges of breaching a SHPO; arranging the commission of a child sexual offence; and failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders' register.
Robert Holt, mitigating, conceded Townsend has a 'substantial record of similar matters'. He said the defendant pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. He was subject to licence and was recalled to prison after his arrest.
He said the offending period was 'relatively short'. Mr Holt said: "I have to accept the young person was 15, quite a disparity in age and the person was a child rather than a decoy and there were further concerns due to his autism and ADHD. He accepts there is an element of grooming and he used it to try and obtain images."
Mr Holt said Townsend had not had any access to any accredited programmes. He said: "He is happy to comply with the Horizon (sex offender) programme and has put his time in custody to good use, completing the first year of an Open University degree in business management."
Mr Holt added: "He accepts his behaviour is inappropriate and he accepts there needs to be some considerable change in his behaviour and his outlook. He seems to be in a revolving door. He is preparing for his release and hopefully will not return to court in the future."
Judge Graeme Smith told Townsend: "Upon your release on licence there was a rapid and worrying return to some of the activity. You were posing as a younger female and corresponding via the internet with a 15-year-old boy. You used another alias, Neve, to communicate with people.
"There was an attempt to obtain sexual images but you were also proposing to meet up with the boy for sexual activity. It would have been obvious you were not 20-year-old Amy but a 32-year-old man. You have a sexual interest in teenage boys. You also encouraged the boy to try and recruit others to what was going on.
"You are a dangerous offender. You are sexually preoccupied and sexually attracted to children. This happened within a matter of weeks after your release from prison."
The extended sentence is made up of five years custody and an extended licence period of five years. He must serve two thirds of the custodial element before he can be considered for release.