A perverted Amesbury man who asked a ‘girl’ to show her ‘little red cherries’ has avoided a prison sentence.
Andrew Stevens was confronted by a group of paedophile hunters on his doorstep in Abbey Square on an evening in June 2024.
The 55-year-old said he was “only having a bit of a laugh and a joke”, soon confirming that he believed he was chatting to a 14-year-old girl online.
Stevens went on to say: “I thought she would like to have a bit of fun about things… we call get carried away saying things we shouldn’t say sometimes.”
According to court documents, the defendant had asked the purported child to go to his address and be in his bed, and touch his ‘sausage’.
In the sexual conversation, he also asked to see the girl’s ‘little red cherries’.
The child was not real – he was actually speaking to a paedophile hunter.
Stevens was charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and pleaded guilty to the offence at Salisbury Magistrates Court.
On 30 January 2026, the defendant was sentenced to a 18-month community order with the requirement to complete a sex offender programme over 26 days.
He must also complete 150 hours of unpaid work in the community and attend ten rehabilitation activity days with the probation service.
The court did not impose a Sexual Harm Prevention Order after deeming it “unnecessary”.
