July 2020

Pervert sent explicit messages to ‘young girls’ – who turned out to be paedophile hunters

A dad who sent sexual messages and images to whom he thought were three children was in fact speaking to decoys, a court heard.

Aled Jones believed he was speaking to a 10-year-old girl when he said he wanted to have sex with her, sent an explicit image of himself, and warned her not to show it to her parents.

The 32-year-old, of Dewi Avenue, Holywell, also “pleaded” with whom he thought were two 14-year-old girls for sexual images of themselves, after telling them in explicit terms what he wanted to do with them.

However, Mold Crown Court heard Jones was talking to online undercover paedophile hunter group pretending to be young girls.

Judge Timothy Petts jailed him for 28 months after he admitted seven attempted child sex offences.

They included three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child aged 14 to look at an image of sexual activity, attempting to cause a child aged 14 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, and attempting to cause a child aged 10 to watch a sexual act.

The Airbus worker was made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for the same period.

Judge Petts said: “The offences you committed sexually were against people you believed were children.

“Unbeknown to you, they were all adult decoys.

“In each case, you knew the age they were purporting to be and that did not deter you in turning the discussions to sexual language, sexualised requests and grooming behaviour.”

Prosecuting barrister Oliver King, said the messages were sent on KIK, and the most explicit was to the fictional 10-year-old who mhe suggested having sex with.

Asked whether she liked “dirty talk”, he followed the conversation up asking for a picture, and by asking whether she ever wore tight jeans or a thong.

Despite making it clear she was uncomfortable with the chat and changing the subject, Mr King said Jones groomed her and “tried to build her trust by talking about pets”.

“When he seemed to have developed her trust, he then turned the conversation back round to whether she had ever been kissed,” Mr King said.

At one point, the court heard how he began messaging the decoy from work.

He even went as far as saying he had previously had sexual encounters with other girls and that he had “made them feel ok.”

The defendant also asked the fictional 14-year-old girl whether she wanted a boyfriend, before turning the conversation to what clothes she wore.

He asked whether she wore tight jeans or leggings, before eventually moving on to what underwear she had on.

Encouraging her to send explicit images, he sent one of his torso and asked for one in return.

Jones told the girl she was “hot” and that he had become sexually aroused by her.

He explained to her what that meant when she told him she did not understand, and then sent her an explicit image.

The defendant then asked whether he would let him touch her in “private places”.

Contacting a second decoy around the same time, who he also thought was a 14-year-old girl, Jones followed the “same pattern” of discussion.

He told the girl he wanted to kiss her and join her in the shower, before “pleading with her to send images of her bottom.”

Mr King said Jones made no secret of where he lived, where he worked and that he had a young daughter.

The chat logs gathered by the decoys were passed on and a “sting” was carried out where members of the vigilante group turned up at the defendant’s address and confronted him.

It was live streamed on Facebook, the court heard, before being passed on to the police.

Jones was arrested on December 21 and admitted the offences.

May 2020

Paedophile hunters turned up at web pervert’s family home

A man who contacted three ‘young girls’ and asked them to send him images of themselves has been spared jail.

Euan Gibbons made the contacts on various online chatrooms and believed them to be teenage girls aged 14.

The 21-year-old, of Maes Pennat, Mostyn, Flintshire also instigated a chat with a ‘girl’ who told him she was 12 years old.

But they were all adults who were posing as teenagers and members of an online paedophile hunting group.

A judge at Mold Crown Court heard several members of the group attempted to confront Gibbons at his home last June.

Andrew Green, prosecuting, said Gibbon’s parents prevented him from coming to the front door.

Police were alerted and he was arrested. During a search a mobile phone and a laptop computer were seized.

Mr Green said these revealed logs of the various chats in June last year.

The examination also revealed indecent images and videos of children.

Gibbons admitted four charges of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and three charges of making indecent photographs.

Suspending the 18-month prison sentence for two years Judge Niclas Parry said he had made “determined and repeated” attempts at contacting teenage girls and had solicited naked images from them.

“You went as far as to enquire where two of them lived and had you had an opportunity you would have met these girls.

“Mercifully there were no children,” the judge said.

Gibbons was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and attend 40 sessions of rehabilitation activity.

Additionally Gibbons was given a ten year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. His details will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for the same period.

June 2020

Paedophile hunters snare North Wales pervert who desperately tries to hide his identity

A man has been jailed for inciting children to have sex after he turned up wearing womens underwear to paedophile hunter sting

John Derek Sandham was snared in Denbighshire by S.T.O.P – an online paedophile hunting group.

Sandham, 37, tried to incite two young “girls” to send intimate photos of themselves over the internet.

The bricklayer, of Carmel, near Holywell thought he was talking to an 11-year-old girl called Sarah and a 13-year-old girl called Elle in April and May last year.

But they were adults posing as youngsters.

Calling himself David and claiming to be from Rhyl, Sandham sent intimate photographs and pornographic videos and asked the “girls” to send him images of themselves.

After collecting the evidence from online chat logs the group traced Sandham through a swingers’ website and arranged to meet him last June.

They filmed their 30 minute confrontation with Sandham who was found to be wearing female underwear.

Clearly shaken Sandham he lay on the ground covering his face throughout the 30-minute video

The police had been alerted and the video ends with officers arriving and arresting Sandham.

When interviewed Sandham insisted he believed the people he was communicating with were adults pretending to be children.

But his mobile phone was seized and forensically examined and evidence was found that Sandham had been downloading indecent images of children and distributing some of them to others.

At Mold Crown Court earlier this week he admitted charges of attempting to incite children to engage in sexual activity and sexual communication, distributing indecent images of children, possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornographic images.

He was jailed for 42 months and his details will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for life.