A man has been charged with sexual offences after a sting was carried out by paedophile hunters.
Michael Wadley, 69, appeared at Salisbury Magistrates’ Court last week charged with a number of offences after police were called to his home on 12 December last year.
At the address in Bancroft, Bradford on Avon, paedophile hunters had confronted the defendant – accusing him of having sexual conversations with a 14-year-old girl.
He was arrested at the scene and numerous digital devices were seized by officers for forensic analysis.
Wadley has since been charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, namely by sending photographs of his penis and encouraging her to masturbate.
He was further charged with two counts of possessing an indecent image of a child and possession of 55 images portraying a person performing an act of intercourse with a live or dead animal.
The case was deemed too serious to be dealt with by magistrates and it was sent to Salisbury Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on 14 December. No pleas were entered at this stage.
He was bailed with a condition not to have unsupervised contact with anybody aged under 18.
