January 2020

Chat room predator sent naked photos to ‘girls’

A chat room predator who came to Oldham after he was snared by ‘paedophile hunter’ groups and interviewed by police has been brought to justice.

Shaun Taylor-Barker had lost his job and was living alone in a bedsit when he went online and made contact with who he believed were three girls aged 13 and 14.

He spent five days sending them ‘sexualised messages’ and photographs of himself naked, a court heard.

He also asked them to touch themselves and send him images of them.

But the ‘girls’ didn’t exist.

They were a ‘decoy’ created by a group called Justice for the Innocent

That was all in Barnstaple. north Devon.

A court heard Taylor-Barker moved to Oldham after being interviewed by police and was only traced last month and brought back to Devon in custody.

The 47-year-old, of Manchester Road, Oldham, pleaded guilty to six counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and one of attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity.

At Exeter Crown Court, he was ordered to attend a sex offenders’ course as part of a three-year community order.

Judge Peter Johnson told him: “You seem to have led a normal life until last February, when you encouraged three young girls aged 13 or 14, or you thought them to be, to touch themselves.

“At a very early stage you sent pictures of yourself, albeit relatively innocent but of a suggestive kind. You were told by one that what you asked her to do had hurt her but encouraged her to do it again.

“You have experienced a taste of custody and been inside for 10 weeks and I am told by the probation report that you have lost more or less everything that can be lost.”

Taylor-Barker was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, enabling police to monitor his internet activity.

The Justice for the Innocent group were joined by another group, Totnes Justice, and confronted him on the doorstep of his bedsit, the court heard.

They filmed the encounter and uploaded it onto YouTube, where it has been seen hundreds of times.

It shows the back of one of the group’s members as he speaks to Taylor-Barker through a partially-opened front door.

December 2019

Paedo hunters trap online predator who tried to groom girl he thought was 13

An online predator who spent five days sending sexualised messages to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl was trapped by a paedophile hunting group.

Shaun Taylor-Barker filmed himself carrying out a sex act to the girl, who turned out to be a decoy created by a member of the Justice for the Innocent group.

Taylor-Barker was confronted on the doorstep of his former home in Barnstaple by the paedophile hunters who were backed up by members of the Totnes Justice group.

They filmed the encounter and uploaded it onto Youtube, where it has been seen 535 times. It shows the back of one of the group’s members as he speaks to Taylor-Barker through a partially opened front door.

The chat logs showed he had repeatedly asked the decoy to touch herself sexually or send him images of herself.

He moved to Oldham after being interviewed by the police and was only traced last month and brought back to Devon in custody.

Taylor-Barker, aged 47, formerly of Barnstaple but now of Manchester Road, Oldham, admitted six counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and one of attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity.

He was remanded in custody by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court, who adjourned the case until next month and ordered a probation pre-sentence report.

He told him: “The most likely outcome of this case is a prison sentence, although the sentencing judge will consider all options.

“This was an attempt, albeit an impossible attempt because the other person did not exist, in which penetration was anticipated or encouraged.

“Amongst other features, there was a significant disparity in age and a persistent course of action.”

Taylor-Barker was caught when he sent messages over a five day period from February 3 to February 8, 2019.

He sent a pornographic image to the decoy on February 7.