Barry Lee 49

Description

Barry Lee, 49, of Marine Road, Pensarn, was jailed for two years at Mold Crown Court after admitting attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child aged 13–15 to look at images of sexual activity.

On 7 September 2026, North Wales Police attended his address after a paedophile hunter group reported that he had been “corresponding with and sending images to a 14-year-old child.” He was arrested and his phone seized. Chat logs showed that between late August and early September he used two names to message someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl. He steered the conversation into sexual territory, sent a sexual image of himself, and asked for images in return. The other party was a decoy.

Lee has six previous convictions covering 19 offences, including sexual communication with a child, attempting to get a child under 16 to watch a sexual act, and sending indecent communications. He was also serving a community order for exposure, which he breached.

Prosecuting, Sam Wiggs outlined the evidence. Defending, John Wyn Williams noted Lee’s early guilty pleas and difficult childhood.

Judge Simon Mills described the offences as “serious” and said only an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate. Previous suspended sentences and community orders had not stopped him offending. The judge accepted that Lee recognised he had a problem, but warned he risked escalating and facing tougher sentences. “The nature of your conversations with the decoy was ever so close to a higher level of offending,” the judge said.

Lee must serve up to half the two-year term in custody, with the remainder on licence. He was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be treated as a very high risk offender. He must comply with sex offender notification requirements for 10 years. A deprivation order was made for his phone, and he must pay the statutory surcharge.