Pervert who sent sick pornography to ‘12-year-old boy’ walks free from Sheffield Crown Court

Sheffield Crown Court heard on March 3 how Thomas Olding, aged 33, of Marrian Avenue, Thurcroft, Rotherham, made contact with the decoy via a socal media platform before moving the communication to a private message service.

Prosecuting barrister Ian Goldsack said: “The police created a profile purporting to be a 12-year-old child based in the London area via the social media platform Chatstep."

Mr Goldsack added Olding gave a false username and suggested he was aged in his 20s before sending pornographic material to the decoy which was transsexual, homosexual and hetrosexual in nature and he asked whether the decoy was sexually aroused.

Police executed a search warrant and in November, 2018, Olding was arrested at his workplace and he gave no comment answers during an interview.

Olding, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to attempting to communicate sexually with a child he believed to be a 12-year-old boy and to attempting to cause a child believed to be a 12-year-old boy to watch a sexual act by sending material which appeared to be eight pornographic images.

Sean Fritchley, defending, said the offending dates back to August, 2018, and the defendant has had this matter hanging over his head for two-and-a-half years while facing the prospect of a custodial sentence with all the “baggage” associated with this kind of offending.

Mr Fritchley added that Olding says this was a “one-off” and he is thoroughly ashamed.

He added that Olding’s wife has stood by him and they have taken steps to prevent anything like this happening again.

Recorder David Kelly told Olding: “Essentially, there was no child. It was a police officer who created a profile pretending to be a 12-year-old boy in the London area and you didn’t know that at the time and you believed he was that child.”

He sentenced Olding to a two-year community order with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and an accredited sex-offender programme.

Olding was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.

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