Workington man jailed for online child sex offences

Mark Adams, 39, made an attempt to persuade a '13-year-old girl' he was chatting to on a social media website to commit sexual acts, unaware that the person he was communicating with was actually an under-cover police officer, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The defendant was jailed after he admitted four counts of sexually communicating with a child and one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Damian Nolan, prosecuting, said Adams, of Rowe Terrace, Workington, fabricated a profile for a gay 21-year-old woman and used this on a dating website.

He was attempting to attract the attention of young girls, said the prosecutor.

“The defendant engaged in sexual communication with a user, believing her to be a 13-year-old female,” said Mr Nolan, pointing out that the police operative had made clear at an early stage that the person he was talking to was aged 13.

The two also exchanged telephone numbers. The communication between the defendant and the ‘girl’ went on for four days in 2020 – on February 4, 5, 6 and 7.

“The defendant repeatedly requested indecent images of [the child] and also sent naked images and encouraged her to engage in sexual activity,” said Mr Nolan.

On February 7, he made a more specific request for the girl to undress and engage in a sex act and then made two attempts to make WhatsApp phone calls to the ‘child’ so he could listen to what she was doing.

Fake: The defendant used photos of somebody he knew to create a fake online profile

Mr Nolan continued: “Clearly, the defendant was wanting to drive the conversation from start to finish.

"Those conversations with her refer to [the girl] being in school uniform and on the way home from school.

“But on each and every day the defendant requested sexualised activity, either the sending of images or [the child] to perform sex acts on herself.”

The court heard that the woman whose photo Adams had used in his fake profile knew nothing about it and was left deeply distressed when police told her what Adams had done.

Throughout three police interviews, Adams denied any wrongdoing.

He suggested somebody may have accessed his online profile to commit the offence.

Anthony Parkinson, defending, said Adams was assessed as posing a “low risk" of reconviction and a “medium risk” of causing serious harm in the future. “There is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation," said the barrister.

He said Adams advanced “hopeless theories” to explain what he did are a result of his shame and embarrassment.

The barrister added: “These offences took place almost two years ago and since his arrest he’s had to leave his family home and he and his partner are in a strained relationship. He is living in privately rented accommodation and has inevitably suffered that this type of offence brings with it and a loss of employment.”

Judge Nicholas Barker that until this offence the defendant lived a crime-free life and was in continuous employment. But he had set up the fake profile in order to engage sexually with other people, said the judge.

“You set up a profile which presented yourself as a 21-year-old female who was gay and was interested in meeting young girls.”

It was abundantly clear his communication with the 13-year-old was “highly sexualised, highly determined, persistent, demanding and controlling”, despite him quickly having learned that she 13.

The judge jailed Adams for 27 months, saying only immediate custody was appropriate given the determined nature of the offences and the deceit involved.

The defendant’s name will be on the Sex Offender Register for a decade and he was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which forbids him from having any unsupervised access to girls aged under 16.