Description
A man has been jailed for three years following a collaborative investigation by Essex Police and officers in the East Midlands.
Neil Wilkin had denied attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence.
However following a three-day trial at Ipswich Crown Court in October, the jury found him guilty on both counts.
They heard that in 2022 the 55-year-old used an online chat room to discuss and plan committing child sexual offences with another user on the platform who he thought was the mother of a teenage girl.
What he didn’t know was that he was interacting with police officers from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit.
"pack of lies"
In November 2022 Essex Police officers arrested Wilkin at his home in Rose Allen Avenue, Colchester.
He was sitting with numerous electronic devices around him and these were all seized. During a forensic examination of his devices, which showed signs of evidence being deleted, conversation threads between Wilkin and the officer were recovered.
Wilkin didn’t answer questions during interview, but in a prepared statement he denied the allegations, claiming it was all “fantasy”.
On Friday 28 November Judge Kelly sentenced him to three years in prison and said Wilkin told a ‘pack of lies’ during his trial.
He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and is subject to 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
Essex Police investigating officer Detective Sergeant Nicola Hadfield said:
Wilkin is a sexual predator who preyed on the vulnerability of someone who he believed was under-age.
His deviant behaviour was stopped by collaborative working by police here in Essex and in the Midlands.
We will be managing him as a sexual offender upon his release, and he will be closely monitored.
Safeguarding children and keeping them safe is our priority and we will relentlessly pursue offenders and bring them before the courts.