A 65-year-old man was caught ‘flirting’ with young girls over the internet by a special police unit set up to catch sexual predators.
HGV driver Kevin Earl, of Piernik Close, Swindon, was stung by undercover officers from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU).
Appearing at Swindon Magistrates’ Court today (24 January), he pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
Keith Ballinger, prosecuting, said the defendant had initiated contact with two profiles purporting to be young girls between 18 October and 10 November 2020.
Speaking to a decoy account named Holly, who claimed to be 12-years-old, Earl told her he had been dreaming of her and sent a photo of his face saying she was “gorgeous”.
He went on to indicate he was “falling for her” and suggested meeting up as more than just friends. One crude message said: “My c**k gets really hard just thinking about you”.
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Earl engaged in a similar conversation with another decoy profile named Emma, who also claimed she was aged just 12. The conversations took place on a dating website.
During a police interview, he told officers that he mostly talked to women aged 20 to 30 years of age, but talks to children out of boredom.
District Judge Joanna Dickens labelled the offence as “terrible”.
“I’m not going to send you to prison today, but these kind of offences are very serious, children are very very vulnerable online”, she said.
Adding: “Fortunately for you, in this case, there was no suggestion that it was taken further than flirting. What really concerns me is that it was taken on to WhatsApp, which is an encrypted app.
“Because of your guilty plea, because of your age, because there were no sexual images traded… I’m just about prepared to deal with this by way of a community order.
“If you breach it, you could go to prison, any more similar offending and you will be straight into prison.”
Earl was handed a 24-month community order to include 60 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 100 hours of unpaid work. He must register as a sex offender for five years.
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