May 2020 Man who offered sex act to boy walks free from court A 38-year-old man who offered to perform oral sex on a boy aged just 15 has walked free from court. Daniel Lock boasted about having had sexual activity with a young child in a conversation with a man on the dating app Grindr. The pervert didn’t realise he had made the claim – which an investigation found was in this instance only a “fantasy” – to an undercover police officer. It led to police raiding his home, seizing his two mobile phones and discovering evidence of another disturbing chat on Grindr. Messages showed that although his claim to the undercover police officer wasn’t true, he had in fact offered to perform a sex act on a person using the name WhatItFeelLike, who said they were a 15-year-old boy. Liverpool Crown Court heard officers also discovered Lock, of North Road, St Helens, had downloaded five extreme animal porn files. Christopher Taylor, prosecuting, said the initial chat with the undercover officer took place on Grindr on September 12 last year. No actual offences were disclosed, but police were sufficiently concerned to launch an investigation and he was circulated as wanted. On September 16 officers went to his address, arrested and interviewed him, then released him on bail while his phones were analysed. Mr Taylor said WhatItFeelLike could never be traced by the police and Grindr did not assist in providing any details to Merseyside Police. Judge Watson ordered him to complete the Horizon programme and carry out a 20-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. He told Lock to sign on the Sex Offenders Register and comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.