Penzance man jailed for child abuse and online grooming

PENZANCE MAN JAILED FOR CHILD ABUSE AND ONLINE GROOMING

A man who engaged in conversations on a social media site which contained sadistic language about child abuse has been sent to prison.

Adrian Walker, 27, also attempted to cause a child to look at an image of sexual activity.

Walker, of Alverton Road in Penzance, appeared at Truro Crown Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to five counts of publishing an obscene article, two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order, an attempted breach of a sexual harm prevention order, possessing a prohibited image of a child, and attempting to cause a child aged 13 to 15 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity.

The court heard how Walker was caught after police performed a random search of his phone, discovering that in August he engaged in conversations on the social media platform Discord that contained sadistic language about child abuse.

Walker was found to be in breach of a sexual harm prevention order made against him in August 2023, for using Discord and Reddit without approval and deleting Discord history.

On May 24, Walker engaged with a girl he believed was 13 and tried to make her view a sexual image.

Officers also found 13 prohibited images of children and one moving prohibited image of a child on his phone.

In sentencing, Judge Simon Carr stated that Walker interacted with the abuse of children in cartoon form and repeated his pleasure in viewing such images.

Walker was sentenced to four years in prison and will be on the sex offenders register for life.