February 2018

Pervert avoids prison after being snared by online child protection team

A pervert has avoided a prison sentence after he groomed what he believed was a 12 year old girl for sexual activity

Marcus Franklin of South Elmsall appeared at Leeds Crown Court where he admitted to several sexual offences including sexual communication with a child and sending indecent images to a child.

The court was told that Franklin had contacted the profile that portrayed a 12 year old girl in December 2017.

He immediately sent highly sexually explicit chat. In one conversation, Franklin told the child that he wanted to teach her how to ‘explore’ her private parts

The pervert also sent indecent images.

However, Franklin was arrested after online child protection team ‘One reason’ confronted him at his home address about his online activity. The teams main concern was that he was a father to a child aged around the same age as the decoy. 

After a short interview, the team rang the police and Franklin was arrested

The decoy involved in the chat log was Ethel Decoy

At Leeds Crown Court, Marcus Franklin was handed:

• Four months custodial sentence, suspended for 2 years

He was told that he must register as a sex offender for a period of ten years

He was handed a 10 year sexual harm prevention order and is banned from having any contact with any children under age of 16