Crime: Sheffield court jails man, aged 51, over sexual messages sent to girl aged just 13

Sheffield Crown Court has jailed a 51-year-old man who sent sexually explicit messages to a 13 year old girl.

Paul Singleton, who was arrested on July 25 this year, also sent sexually explicit pictures to the youngster, and was caught after South Yorkshire Police's Internet Sexual Offences Team (ISOT) received reports that he was sending the messages to a child on social media.

The court heard he started to speak to the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, online and quickly, the messages became sexually explicit.

Detective Constable Michelle Jameson, who led the investigation, said: “Despite establishing early on in his communication that his victim was 13-years-old, Singleton continued to engage in highly inappropriate and sexualised conversation, including sending explicit images to the victim.”

Singleton, formerly of Bessacarr, Doncaster, was charged and pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual communication with a child and one count of attempting to cause/incite a girl to engage in sexual activity. On Thursday 24 August, at Sheffield Crown Court, he was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

He was also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Detective Inspector Lee Wilson, who leads the ISOT said: “Within a month, this dangerous and predatory offender was identified, arrested, charged and convicted, which I hope demonstrates to the public of South Yorkshire how robust our response to this crime is, and how seriously we take reports of this type of offending.

“We know that there are others out there engaging in similar horrific crimes, targeting vulnerable children and young people, and our work will not stop to identify those individuals and bring them before the courts.”