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.
13. Darrel Kettleborough: Jailed for trying to coerce "12-year-old girl" into sexual acts
Sending Darrel Kettleborough, to prison for a string of sex offences, Judge David Dixon, told him: “You fall to be sentenced for trying to talk to a 12-year-old girl in a grossly inappropriate way, a completely inappropriate way that most people would regard as being depraved. Not only were you trying to talk to her, you shared images of you masturbating.” During an April 5, 2024, hearing, Judge Dixon said Kettleborough, aged 42, of Skinnerthorpe Road, Fir Vale also asked the girl to commit a sex act using the handle of a hairbrush. He continued: “Luckily for this community, no 12-year-old girl existed, she was a police officer deployed to see if there were people like you, trawling the interent, and looking for girls to abuse.” Police arrested Kettleborough on June 28, 2021, just over a fortnight after the communication ended, and he was subsequently charged with four sex offences, namely one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child; two counts of attempting to cause or incite a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and one count of attempting to engage in a sexual activity in presence of a child aged under 13. Kettleborough pleaded guilty to all charges at an earlier hearing. Judge Dixon jailed Kettleborough, then aged 40, for 40 months, and made him the subject of a 15-year sexual harm prevention order. Judge Dixon said that while he had ‘regard’ for the fact that no child was involved with, or harmed by, Kettleborough's offending, but while addressing him directly, added: “You wanted this to happen, you tried everything you could to make it happen.” | SYP
14. Andrew Bowes: Jailed after communicating with profile he thought was kid but was member of "online child activist group"
Andrew Bowes, aged 48, was arrested on September 1, 2024 after communicating with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl. Bowes, of Oakwood Road, Balby, Doncaster, asked the ‘child’, who was actually a decoy from an online child activist group, to share indecent images of herself before suggesting they meet face-to-face. When he was caught out, he told the police “I was only messing about”. After his arrest, a search of his phone led to the recovery of devices which showed the messages between Bowes and the decoy. Bowes, who was handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in 2020, was jailed for three years at Sheffield Crown Court on September 25, 2024 after pleading guilty to three counts of breaching his SHPO, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence. | SYP