Sheffield man snared by paedophile hunter group sharing indecent images with teen 'girl' he called "baby"
He was caught by a paedophile hunter group
A 61-year-old man from Sheffield snared by a paedophile hunter group has avoided jail.
Mark Newsam, of Deer Park Close, Stannington, thought he was chatting to a 14-year-old girl over Facebook and Whatsapp between August and November 2021.
But Joseph Bell, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court it was in fact a fake profile set up by an online group, which then exposed his crimes.
At 1am on August 25, 2021, following a friend request, Newsam and the ‘girl’ started messaging.
Mr Bell said: “She did tell him she was aged 14.”
Further in the conversation, Newsam asked her “when she was due to be back at school”.
The court heard that he referred to her as “baby” and “love”, sending an increasing amount of kisses at the end of each text, and claiming he would “love to meet her”.
On September 5, Newsam asked for pictures of the girl, saying that he would “like to see more of her”.
Mr Bell said: “He asked what she would like to eat when they met up.”
Newsam sent her images of different styles of underwear after asking “what she wears to sleep in”, the court heard.
He then share a photo of his genitalia.
Mr Bell said the messages were later deleted in Newsam.
The court heard how in another messagedon Whatsapp, he sent the girl “a photo of a cartoon imitating a sexual position” and asked her to “describe her breasts”.
On November 4, the paedophile hunter group located his address, where police then arrested him.
Jessica Strange, defending, told the court that Newsam pleaded guilty to the charges of attempted sexual communications with a child and possessing extreme pornographic images.
On Thursday, October 15, Judge Michael Slater sentenced Newsam to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.
He was also given a sexual harm prevention order of five years.
Judge Slater said he had taken into account Newsam has had to “live with this for the last five years”, and that he hadn’t committed any offences since.