January 2021

Castleford paedophile caught in police sting trying to talk to ’14-year-old boy’ on Grindr dating app

A paedophile was caught in a police sting trying to talk to a ’14-year-old boy’ on a dating app.

Luke Vickers was also caught with more than 100 Japanese cartoons depicting child abuse on his laptop when he was arrested.

The 31-year-old was handed a suspended sentence yesterday (Friday) after pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity to attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child and possessing prohibited images of a child.

Prosecutor Catherine Duffy said Vickers was caught in a police sting when an officer posed as a 14-year-old boy called Jack on Grindr in April and May 2019.

She said that when Vickers was arrested he told officers that he thought the ‘child’ might have been an adult posing as a child for fantasy and he wanted to help him ‘come out’.

Leeds Crown Court heard the defendant said he believed the person was an adult as that is what their profile said.

Officers searched his home and seized his laptop.

More than 130 manga depicting child abuse was found on the laptop, which had been downloaded between July 2015 and September 2017.

Thousands of other files relating to child abuse found on the laptop were not analysed, the prosecutor said.

Vickers, of Blands Crescent, Allerton Bywater, Castleford, had no convictions prior to this case.

Vickers was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with requirements to complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity and a programme aimed at addressing his offending behaviour.

He was also made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and ordered to pay £340 towards prosecution costs.