CHRISTOPHER BIRCHALL

WALTHAM AVENUE MAN GETS SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR ONLINE CHILD SEX CHAT

A PERVERT had depraved sex chats while his wife was away with someone he believed was an underage teenage boy.

During his sentencing hearing yesterday, Monday, Liverpool Crown Court heard how Christopher Birchall is in ‘denial’ over his actions.

The 44-year-old was in fact talking to an undercover police officer posing as a 14-year-old boy to root out online child sex predators.

but the defendant was spared jail, after being charged with attempted sexual communications with a child, with the court opting to attempt to rehabilitate him in the community.

Prosecutor Nardeen Nemat told the court how the sex chats took place between June 7 and 13 last year.

An undercover police officer set up an account on Grindr, a dating social media serving the LGBTQ community, purporting to be a 14-year-old boy called Sam.

The defendant, under the username Matty, contacted the Sam profile asking how he was, ‘what he had done with a lad’ and ‘what he wanted to try’.

Birchall, who told the ‘boy’ he was from Birchwood, continued to ask about sexual activity, with the conversation moving to Snapchat.

On this platform, the defendant sent a message that he was ‘horny’, and when Sam said he was aged 14, he said he was older and lied that he was aged 39.

The pair exchanged photos showing their faces and Birchall asked about sexual acts, and the boy’s sexual experience with other men.

Conversations involved asking whether they were looking for ‘something serious’, with Birchall commenting that their chat could be a ‘trap’ when discussing possibly meeting up.

Sam said that he was at his dad’s house, and no one was home when Birchall asked him if he could ‘sneak out’, and he asked if the defendant could pick him up.

Birchall requested a video chat as he would ‘never meet someone without one’ first, but on June 13, when Sam again confirmed he was aged 14, the defendant said he was ‘too young, sorry’ and deleted him from Snapchat.

Police executed a search warrant at Birchall’s home on July 4 and arrested him.

During his police interview, he told officers that he was not serious and it was ‘just a bit of fun’, and that he had never met up with anyone.

He also said it was just sex chat but with the ‘wrong person’, and that it was just ‘fantasy’ while his wife was away.

Ms Nemat informed the court that Birchall has no previous convictions.

Defending his client, Jeremy Rawson admitted that the custodial threshold had been crossed.

However, it was heard on Birchall’s behalf that it was in his favour that he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, and the fact that there was not a real child involved.

“You engaged in disgusting chats with someone you believed was a 14-year-old boy, said judge Garrett Byrne before passing sentence.

“When they told you they were 14, it did nothing to stop you.

“You made worrying comments about meeting up, but I accept you ended the conversation not having done so.

“I have made an adjustment to reflect that no actual child was at risk of harm.” He added that the best way forward, in his view, was for the defendant to undergo a sex offender programme requirement, despite him ‘being in complete denial’ about what he has done.

Birchall, of Waltham Avenue in Glazebury, was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 18 months.

During this time, he must complete the Horizon sex offender treatment programme, 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 80 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Judge Byrne also imposed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, told the defendant he must sing the sex offender register for the same length of time, and added that if he breached his suspended sentence, he would be sent to prison.