July 2021

Storrington man jailed for trying to meet teenage girl in Crawley

A pervert who travelled to try to meet someone he thought was a schoolgirl for sex has been jailed.

Richard White, 44, unemployed, of Timberlands, Storrington, was sentenced to 26 months imprisonment.

It followed an intelligence-led investigation by the Sussex Police Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT).

The court heard that White travelled to Crawley to meet a schoolgirl he thought he was talking to online.

However, White’s communications devices were seized when officers arrested in a car park in December 2019.

White was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday 1 July, having pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to attempting to arrange a child sexual offence.

He will be a registered sex offender for ten years and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, also for ten years, severely restricting his access to children and computers.