A 35-year-old man has appeared in court charged with three child sex offences.
John Edward Iles faces charges of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity, attempting to cause a child to watch an image of sexual activity and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
Nataline Cheeseman, prosecuting, told Swindon Magistrates’ Court this morning (30 March) that the defendant had allegedly spoken to a 13-year-old girl online.
However, the girl was actually a paedophile hunter from Justice for Innocence.
Whilst a sting was not carried out on Iles by the group, evidence of his alleged illicit behaviour was handed to Wiltshire Police to investigate.
On hearing that one of the offences is indictable only and the other two charges are inextricably linked, all three charges were sent up to Swindon Crown Court.
Iles’ solicitor, Terry McCarthy, indicated that pleas of guilty would be entered.
The defendant, of Marlow Avenue, Swindon, was released on bail with conditions not to have any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.
Iles can have supervised contact with children under the terms of the conditions. However, the child’s parent must be informed of the allegations before the court.
He will appear at Swindon Crown Court next month for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
