Description
A mental health counsellor from Eltham who had a six-month online relationship with a 14-year-old girl has avoided prison.
Steve Hughes, 55, sent sexualised and grooming messages to the young girl after he sought her out on social media in November 2022.
In May 2023 he was confronted by paedophile hunters as he discovered he had spent the last six months messaging a decoy account.
On inspection of his phone it was then revealed that Hughes had also been messaging three other “girls” - all aged either 13 or 14 – who were also decoy accounts run by other paedophile hunter organisations.
Hughes, of Eltham Hill, claimed at trial that he knew all along that these were “scam” accounts and that he did not genuinely believe he was talking to teenage girls.
But a jury unanimously rejected his defence and convicted him of four charges of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
On Monday, August 18, Hughes was sentenced to 18 months in custody suspended for 18 months.
He will be the subject of a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order which will allow police to monitor his online activity.
Prior to his arrest Hughes was an experienced adult counsellor and psychotherapist working in Welling and later Eltham.
His website stated he successfully worked on issues relating to “sex and shame”.
Judge David Miller said:
“Between October 2022 and May 2023 you sought out teenage girls to form digital relationships with.
“You found four girls, you engaged in chat with them on various social media sites and you soon turned the conversations sexual – there is an element of grooming , particularly regarding on girl who you were in communication with for six months.”
He told Hughes that if these were actual children, rather than decoys, he would have received a considerably higher sentence and one which would not have been suspended.
“Having read the pre-sentence report and the character references, I’m suspending the sentence because I consider there’s a realistic chance of rehabilitation. I think you will comply with the order and won’t reoffend,” Judge Miller said.
Hughes was ordered to pay £4,380 to cover the four-day Woolwich Crown Court trial he elected to have.