A pervert who offered a teenage ‘girl’ cash and gifts in return for sexual favours has been branded a danger to children.
Mark Arthur offered ‘Poppy’ the financial incentives to satisfy his depraved sexual cravings without realising he was actually dealing with a specialist undercover police officer.
The convicted sex offender’s home was raided by police who recovered an unregistered mobile phone with social media apps and a number of undeclared email addresses and aliases.
The 43-year-old had initially hidden the mobile from officers but eventually revealed its location, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Anthony Pettengell, prosecuting, the defendant was jailed for six years in 2012 after he groomed a number of underage girls online.
In that case he offered them money, alcohol, and phone top-ups to persuade them to send indecent pictures of themselves.
He also took images of his sexual activities with one victim and threatened to post them online.
Mr Pettengell told the court that his previous offending was in the same category of what he was suggesting to the undercover officer.
He added: “He asked if she liked older men, what she looked like and whether she had a boyfriend.
“He asked if she liked being spoiled with money and presents. He then offered her £20 in exchange for indecent images.
“He later said he would give her £50 to carry out a sex act on her before asking her how much she would want to have sex with him.”
Arthur, of Princes Road, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, two breaches of his sexual harm prevention order, and four charges of failure to comply with the conditions of his notification requirements.
Uzma Khan, mitigating, said: “He has said to me to say that he was not going to act upon them (the messages) – they were just fantastical messages.”
Judge Jonathan Carroll branded Arthur a danger to young children as he passed a seven-year three months sentence due to the nature of his reoffending by offering cash for sex with the 'teenager'.
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“You would have had a very clear understanding of what was required of you,” he said. “These measures are not just put in place to cause an inconvenience to you, they are in place so that the risk that you represent to society, and in particular pre-pubescent girls, can be monitored.”
The judge added: “You had used the phone to seek out the object of your sexual desires, prepubescent children. The person who you contacted was fortunately an undercover police officer.
“There’s no doubt this was a sexually motivated conversation. Your defence submits it was a fantasy but I don’t accept that.”
Arthur was told that his indefinite SHPO and notification requirements will continue once he is released from prison.
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