CRAIG RICHARDSON SENTENCED IN CASTLEFORD FOR ONLINE GROOMING OFFENSES
Craig Richardson, of School Street, Castleford, was sentenced to prison after engaging in online grooming and attempting to meet underage girls.Richardson had previously been jailed last year for targeting what he believed was a young girl online.
Following his release, he made further attempts to meet young girls around Christmas time.
Both girls he intended to meet were actually paedophile hunters operating online to trap predators and report them to the authorities.
One of the groups, Fighting Against the Evil, confronted Richardson at Castleford Bus Station as he tried to meet a girl who was not real.
Before Christmas 2021, he initiated a chat with someone using the alias Nicky, who disclosed from the start that she was underage, as prosecutor Bashir Ahmed told Leeds Crown Court.
Despite her warning, Richardson asked for a photo and soon began making sexual comments, including requesting pictures of her on the toilet.
He planned to meet her on January 3 but was intercepted by members of the group livestreaming the sting.
Police arrived at the scene.
Richardson, who gave no comment during his police interview, had also been communicating with a 13-year-old girl named Lucy, using a decoy profile created by the group Hunted and Confronted UK.
He made sexual suggestions and requested photographs from her as well.
After being confronted by the group, Richardson was detained by police but refused to comment again during that interview.
The court heard that Richardson has eight previous convictions for 12 offences.
These include attempting to incite a child into sexual activity in 2017, and similar offences in 2021, which led to him being jailed for 18 months and receiving a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
He is currently held on remand at HMP Leeds.
At a hearing on Friday via video link, Leeds Crown Court accepted Richardson’s guilty pleas to nine new charges involving internet grooming.
These charges included attempting to incite a child into sexual activity, attempting to cause a child to watch sexual content, and breaching the sexual harm prevention order.
Mitigation was presented by Jane Cooper, who highlighted Richardson’s learning difficulties and social isolation, stating: “There’s not a great deal for me to say.
In terms of his personal mitigation, this is a defendant with learning difficulties.
He is an isolated individual who became more isolated from his previous conviction.” Judge Tom Bayliss QC described Richardson as posing a serious risk of harm to children.
He remarked, “You went to Castleford Bus Station and I’m quite sure with the object of putting into practice what you were trying to arrange.” The judge sentenced Richardson to eight years in prison, with an extended four-year licence period.
Additionally, an indefinite sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) was imposed, restricting his internet access to prevent further offenses.
