February 1, 2023 10.30 am This story is over 25 months old

Man who sent sexually explicit messages to ‘child’ avoids jail

He was confronted by members of an online activist group
| Photo: Lincolnshire Police

A 49-year-old man from Newark has avoided jail after sending sexually explicit messages to a person he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.

Paul Taylor, of Mill Gate in Newark, was unwittingly in conversation with an adult from an online activist group when he befriended the ‘girl’ on social media.

After sending sexually explicit photographs and messages, he later arranged to meet her at a restaurant in Worksop.

Taylor pulled out of the meeting at the last minute but was confronted by members of the group at his former home in Edwinstowe.

Police arrested Taylor and seized his mobile phone, which revealed his conversations with the ‘girl’.

Taylor appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on January 30 where he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months. He had been convicted of one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child after a trial last December.

He has also been put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.

Detective Constable Alan Braisby, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Taylor proved by his actions that he posed a serious risk of harm to underage girls.

“As his own messages made clear, he knowingly set out to meet what he believed was a child for his own sexual gratification.

“The safeguarding of children is of paramount importance to the force.

“We are committed to preventing child sexual exploitation and will be relentless in apprehending those responsible for the sexual exploitation of children and holding them to account for their crimes.”

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