Locations
Eastfield Road, Market Weighton, East Riding Of Yorkshire, YO43
Description
A "dangerous" convicted sex offender got a nasty shock when a 12-year-old schoolgirl that he was exchanging explicit and highly sexualised online messages with turned out to be an undercover police officer trying to trap paedophiles.
Perverted predator Connor Smith had already been jailed in the past for seven years but, after he was released from prison, it did not "deter" him that the decoy girl was only 12, Hull Crown Court heard.
Smith, 43, of Eastfield Road, Market Weighton, admitted attempting engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity between July and August.
Judge Alexander Menary told the court that Smith had been jailed at Hull Crown Court for seven years in July 2018 for two offences of sexual activity with a child. He had been given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
The offences, from 2016, involved him befriending and forming a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl and having sex with her on a number of occasions when she should have been at school.
Smith served a significant period of that prison sentence but he was twice released on licence. He had been recalled to prison because of other concerns from the probation service.
After he was released, he began communicating with someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl but who was really an undercover police officer. "The fact that she was a 12-year-old girl did not deter you," said Judge Menary.
Smith encouraged the decoy girl to commit sexual acts. He had a worrying interest in children but he had not acknowledged this. The probation service regarded him as posing a risk of serious harm to children through further offences.
Billy Torbett, mitigating, said that Smith pleaded guilty at an early stage. "There is no denying that his behaviour is, quite simply, unacceptable," said Mr Torbett.
"He is ashamed of himself, as he should, quite frankly, be. He is remorseful for his offending."
Smith had kept out of trouble for a time after his release from prison but he "ruined that" by committing the offences. He was realistic about facing a prison sentence again.
Smith, who was already in custody, was jailed for four years after being branded a "dangerous" offender. He will be on extended licence of five years after his release from prison.
He must register as a sex offender for life and the indefinite sexual harm prevention order will continue.