NORFOLK MAN JAILED FOR ONLINE SEXUAL GROOMING AND FALSE CAR CLAIMS

A shop worker named Declan Seaman pretended to be a vehicle mechanic who drove Ferraris and Porsches in order to impress and coax a teenage girl into sending sexually explicit images. The court was told that Seaman, at the time 21 years old, engaged in an online chat with someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl, but was actually a member of a paedophile hunter group. Despite the girl revealing her age early on, the conversation quickly became sexual. Seaman asked if she would like to have sex and discussed her touching herself. He also sent her pictures of Ferrari and Porsche sports cars, falsely claiming these were his own cars to impress her. This misconduct began in December 2023 and ended on January 4, 2024, when members of the hunter group arrived at his residence before police took him into custody. Seaman appeared in Norwich Crown Court for sentencing, admitting to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to sexual activity. The judge described Seaman's claims as "all fantastical" and told him "it's time to grow up." The court sentenced him to a 24-month community order, 10 days of Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, 26 sessions of an accredited program, and 200 hours of unpaid work. Additionally, he was ordered to pay £500 in costs, placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years, and subjected to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years. The court acknowledged that Seaman's behavior stemmed from immaturity, grandiosity, loneliness, and personal struggles following his grandmother's stroke. At the time of sentencing, he was working in a supermarket and living with his brother with mental health difficulties.