June 2021

Foot fetish paedophile tried to meet ‘teen girl’ outside court he’s now been jailed from

A Derby foot fetish paedophile arranged to meet a 14-year-old girl he groomed online outside the very courthouse from where he has now been jailed.

Christopher Hirchfield told Lydia he would take her to the funfair ahead of an “all-nighter” if she came to meet him.

While speaking to the teen online the 29-year-old, of Littleover, also replied “age is just a number” when she repeatedly told him how old she was.

The perverted defendant asked for photographs and videos from the teen demanding she touched herself sexually for his pleasure.

And Hirchfield, of Bretton Avenue, sent Lydia images of himself doing the same.

But when he turned up at the agreed meeting point, Derby Crown Court, he was instead confronted by members of an online paedophile hunter group that had been posing as the victim on Facebook.

Jailing him for two years and three months, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “What is clear from the chat is that you thought you were talking with a real 14-year-old girl but in fact you had contacted someone who was a decoy.

“What is also plain from the chat is that you were persistent and demanding in terms of what you wanted.

“On numerous occasions, despite being reminded she was only 14, you persisted in giving sexual instructions to her.

“It is also plain you knew you were doing something wrong telling her you were scared.

“But you proceeded to try and groom her and indeed arranged to meet her outside this crown court with the promise of ‘an all-nighter’.

“Little did you know it was not a 14-year-old you were meeting.”

Stephen Mather, prosecuting, said Hirchfield contacted the decoy’s Facebook account in February of last year and the pair began chatting online.

He said very quickly the defendant turned their conversations sexual with the defendant asking for videos and images of the girl touching herself.

Mr Mather said: “Lydia repeatedly told him she was only 14 but he replied in one message ‘age is just a number’.

“He asked for images of her feet saying he had a foot fetish and she said she was coming to stay with her dad in Derby.

“He said he wanted ‘cuddles and an all-nighter’ and they arranged to meet outside Derby Crown Court with him saying he would take her to a funfair which was on in the city centre at that time.

“But when he arrived he was met by the group saying to them ‘I did not realise this was going to happen’.”

Hirchfield pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and attempting to incite a child into sexual activity.

As well as the jail term Judge Shant handed Hirchfield a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and ordered him to sign the sex offender register for 10 years.