But in each case, they were actually communicating online with undercover police officers, or so-called “paedophile hunters.”
Those online conversations are what led to their downfall, allowing those on the other end to compile evidence against them, ultimately resulting in their convictions.
The majority of these offenders believed they were exchanging messages with children, some under the age of 12.
Three offenders, however, believed they were communicating with parents of young children, who shared their interest in child abuse.
Sheffield judges have sent each one of them to begin stints in prison, ranging in length from 16 months to 11 years.
9. Mark Best: Jailed for 48 months after communicating with "13-year-old girl"
Mark Best, 57, of Baslow Road, at Totley, Sheffield, who has previous convictions for sex offences, struck up a conversation with several decoy online profiles, one of which claimed to be a 13-year-old girl. While sending explicit messages he said he could "go to prison" for what he was doing. The vigilante group eventually set him up to meet with an adult decoy and apprehended him. He was jailed for 48 months in January 2023, and deemed to be 'dangerous'. - https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/crime/sheffield-sex-offender-trapped-by-paedophile-hunters-said-he-was-glad-to-get-caught-4002272 | SYP Photo: SYP
10. Mark Priest: Jailed for sexual communications with decoy children
Mark Priest, 39, of Haggstones Road, Sheffield, was jailed for three years and nine months at Sheffield Crown Court on May 17, 2024, for several offences. They include three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, three counts of attempting to cause a child aged under 13 to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity, engaging in sexual communication with a child, inciting a child to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity, and inciting a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity. In each of these offences, Priest believed he was communicating with the profile of a real child online, but was in fact speaking with undercover police. | SYP
11. Timothy Newberry: Jailed for attempted sexual communication with a decoy child
Timothy Newberry, then aged 33, of Reresby Park Close, Rotherham, was convicted of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, and attempting to cause a child under the age of 13 to engage in penetrative sexual activity. He also believed he was communicating with a child when he committed the offences in June 2023. He was sentenced to three years and six months in prison at Sheffield Crown Court on May 20, 2024. | SYP
12. Lee Haughton: Sex offender revealed plans to abuse baby to "single mum"
Sheffield Crown Court heard how Lee Haughton, of Wood Street, South Hiendley, Barnsley met an undercover police officer purporting to be a single mother in an online chatroom. Mr Bailey said that despite Haughton immediately revealing he was ‘into role-playing; age-play and diapers’; he was ‘initially cautious’ and asked the officer, who was using a pseudonym, to prove she was real and not from the police. As the conversation progressed, Haughton told her he had ‘always been turned on by incest’, the court was told. The undercover officer told Haughton she shared his interests. Despite his concerns about being caught by the police, Haughton expressed his desire to abuse her baby, which he described as ‘the ultimate’ and something that had not previously been ‘accessible to him’. Mr Bailey said the pair agreed to meet in person at a café, and upon arrival, Haughton told the officer he had got there early because he was ‘eager’ and had also wanted to check the area for ‘police officers or similar’. During the meeting, Haughton formulated a plan for abusing the undercover officer’s children, and said he ‘really likes nappies’ and had ‘always been into watersports’. He was caught and arrested by police three days later, as he travelled to a location he believed to be the undercover officer’s house, carrying a bag containing sex toys. During a sentencing hearing held in February 2022, Judge David Dixon described Haughton as a ‘dangerous offender’ and handed him an extended sentence of 14 years, six years of which must be served in prison. He said he was in ‘no doubt’ Haughton would have completed the crimes against the baby. | SYP