A Wiltshire paedophile has avoided an immediate prison sentence after admitting multiple serious child sex offences involving children he contacted online.
70-year-old Archie Rawlings, of Lavington Close, Burbage, was handed a three-year prison sentence, suspended for three years, after pleading guilty to six offences.
The offences included five counts of arranging or facilitating child sexual offences and possessing extreme pornographic images portraying an act likely to result in serious injury.
Between 5 October and 30 October 2023, Rawlings engaged in sexual conversations with a 14-year-old child online and arranged to meet them for sex.
Officers from Wiltshire Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) attended his home in December 2023, where he was arrested and electronic devices were seized.
Further forensic examinations of the devices uncovered sexual communications with other children, including arrangements for sexual activity.
Rawlings was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) lasting ten years and will be placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
The defendant is a well-known face in his village, reportedly helping run the Burbage and Easton Royal British Legion Club – where he was pictured behind the bar in 2012.
Wiltshire Police refused to provide a custody image of the offender following a “risk assessment”.
[Do you have a more up-to-date picture of Rawlings for our reporting of this case? Please contact us. We’ll never tell anyone you’ve been in touch.]Detective Sergeant Jason Walsh said: “We remain committed to identifying those who seek to harm children, bringing them before the courts and safeguarding young people from abuse.
“Through extensive digital forensic enquiries, investigators uncovered further evidence of Rawlings’ offending against multiple children, ensuring that he was held accountable for the full extent of his crimes.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in this investigation for their professionalism and diligence in securing this conviction.
“Today’s sentence demonstrates that those who use the internet to groom, manipulate and exploit children will be relentlessly pursued and brought to justice.”
