Sheffield sex offender snared by paedophile hunter group is jailed after breaching terms suspended prison sentence

Defendant Craig Burgin was given a sentence of six months, suspended for two years, during a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court (SCC) in November last year, after pleading guilty to offences including attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child; attempting to cause a child under the age of 16 to watch a sexual act and possessing indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornography depicting bestiality involving a woman and a dog. He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register during the hearing.

In a new court hearing held on June 27 this year, prosecuting barrister Brian Outhwaite said that set of offences came about after Burgin began communicating online with a girl he believed to be a 13-year-old girl, but was in fact a fake profile being operated by a ‘paedophile hunter’ group.

Mr Outhwaite told the court that during Burgin’s communication with the ‘girl,’ he sent her intimate pictures of himself, encouraged her to watch sexual content he sent her; and upon his arrest, police found indecent images of children on his mobile phone.

Burgin, aged 39, was brought before the court again during the new hearing for breaching his suspended sentence order, after he failed to notify police of where he was living for 16 days, and in doing so, breached the notification requirements which are a stipulation of the sex offenders’ register.

“He registered with Snig Hill Police Station. Said he was of no fixed abode, and was sleeping rough outside Sheffield Cathedral,” Mr Outhwaite said, with the court told that Burgin registered those details with the police on November 19 last year.

Mr Outhwaite added: “He should have gone back by November 26. A check was made on December 10, he hadn’t registered with any of the three police stations in Sheffield.”

Burgin was arrested in April 2022, and in police interview he stated there had been ‘issues with his accommodation because he was concerned people would find out about his sexual offences,’ Mr Outhwaite told the court.

Burgin, of no fixed abode, subsequently pleaded guilty to offences relating to the breaches of his notification requirements and suspended sentence order at an earlier hearing.

Defending, Tim Gaubert, said the best point of mitigation that could be made in Burgin’s favour was his early guilty plea, and added there has been ‘no new offending’.

Mr Gaubert continued by saying that after a court report about the case was published, which included his address, Burgin, who was living in social housing, became ‘extremely concerned’ and wanted to ‘move quickly’.

Burgin was unable to find new accommodation and began sleeping rough, Mr Gaubert told the court.

He continued by saying Burgin’s housing problems are likely to continue if he is not given any assistance, and at ‘some point in the future, someone’s going to have to provide some accommodation’.

“He has a limited record, and is someone who could otherwise probably contribute to society, but I suspect there has been a downward spiral for a number of reasons,” Mr Gaubert continued.

Judge Graham Robinson activated all of Burgin’s six month suspended sentence, and sentenced him to a further three months for breaching his suspended sentence and notification requirements, bringing the total sentence to nine months.