A 20-YEAR-OLD Carlisle man whose unhealthy sexual interest in children was exposed by a paedophile hunter group has admitted having a secret social media account for use with people aged under 16. 

Daniel Pearson suffered public humiliation as more than 75,000 watched a video of him being confronted about his offending.

Aged 18 at the time, he had used a social media website to have sexualised conversations with a person he believed was a 13-year-old girl, unaware that it was a volunteer decoy from a paedophile hunter group.

He had to leave his home after the moments when he was first confronted by the paedophile hunters on his own doorstep was live-streamed on the Internet.

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Pearson was put back before Carlisle Crown Court this week to face a new allegation, that he flouted a sexual harm prevention order by failing to disclose a Snapchat account that he operated under a false name.

Gerard Rogerson, prosecuting, said the defendant was convicted on August 2 last year of attempting to cause a child aged 13 to engage in sexual activity.

He was given a three-year community order.

This included a sexual harm prevention order, which involves the police strictly monitoring his use of any internet enabled devices and a ban on him having unsupervised contact with any child.

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Within an hour of him entering his guilty plea, Pearson was quizzed by police about whether he had any other social media accounts. He was also asked whether he used any aliases in his online interactions.

He denied using any other social media accounts, said Mr Rogerson.

Yet five months later, said the prosecutor, the defendant’s offender manager arranged for Pearson’s mobile phone to be analysed and it was confirmed that he had an undisclosed Snapchat account.

It was illegal from the moment his sexual harm prevention order was imposed. Mr Rogerson said: “To summarise his interview, he admitted failing to comply with the notificiation [Sex Offender Register] requirements.”

He told police he was afraid to disclose the Snapchat account. The false name he used, he said, was given to him by a landlord so he could be rehoused anonymously.

Mr Rogerson said that Pearson had used the Snapchat account to communicate with people aged under 16 but there was no evidence to show that this contact had been in any way sexual.

Mark Shepherd, defending, said the defendant’s engagement with his work designed to rehabilitate him had been “nothing short of tremendous.” He was also attending regular counselling. “He comes to this court today knowing that he had made a massive error of judgement,” said the lawyer.

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Unusually, Pearson, who admitted breaching his court order, had not denied his sexual proclivity and wanted treatment to address this. His background included a “childhood trauma”, and experience of “significant bullying.”

That provided a reason why he sought out the company of younger children and social isolation had contributed to his offending. But the defendant was now about to take up a new job.

Recorder David Temkin QC noted the defendant’s “excellent progress” with his existing three-year community order, which includes a sexual offender treatment programme.

He also recognised that Pearson was “keen to do the right thing.” The Recorder accepted that Pearson had faced difficulties in his community, having had to repeatedly move after publicity about his offending.

The Recorder imposed 16-weeks custody in a young offenders’ institution but he suspended the sentence for 18-months. At the original sentencing hearing, Mr Shepherd said Pearson struggled with anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.

* A court order forbids the News & Star from publishing the defendant's current or former address in Carlisle. The photo of the defendant is being used so that Pearson is adequately identified.

* Cumbria Police have a detailed web page about Child Sexual Exploitation. It can be found here. 

* The Lucy Faithfull Foundation runs at Stop It Now campaign, designed to prevent abuse by reaching out to people who may be at risk of offending. Its website can be found here. The charity also runs a confidential helpline, the number being: 0808 1000 900

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