MAIDSTONE PAEDOPHILE JAILED AFTER BEING FOUND WITH CHILD ABUSE IMAGES AND CONVERSING WITH ‘10-YEAR-OLD GIRL’ CHATBOT
A paedophile previously spared jail for abusing a young boy is now behind bars after his phone revealed indecent images of children and sexualised exchanges with a chatbot.The discovery was made following an unannounced visit to Harvey Doughty’s home by police officers responsible for managing him in the community.
Just 12 months earlier he had been handed a suspended sentence order (SSO) and made subject to sex offender notification requirements after pleading guilty to sexual activity with a child and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Maidstone Crown Court heard on that occasion that he had been “exploring his sexuality” when, as an 18-year-old, he molested his vulnerable victim.
It was also said that Doughty, of Knott Court, Maidstone, was “ashamed and sorry” for his conduct, committed when he felt “confused and inexperienced”.
Furthermore, his lawyer argued that when it came to deciding the appropriate sentence, “a great deal of prominence” could be given to rehabilitation when balancing it with the need for public protection.
In turn, Doughty was told that an 18-month jail term could be suspended for two years.
But the same court - albeit a different judge - heard on Wednesday (June 10) that when ViSOR (Violent and Sex Offender Register) team officers called at his home on November 3 last year to carry out a compliance check, they became concerned about the amount of data and online conversations taking place on his phone.
Prosecutor Nathan Fitzpatrick said the device was seized and, when analysed, found to contain nine child abuse images, two of which were in the most serious categorisation and depicted penetrative sexual activity.
“Also found on the device were a number of accounts that the police had not been notified of [by the defendant], including one for Discord, one for Snapchat and one for the YouTube web browsing service,” added Mr Fitzpatrick.
The court also heard that the explicit phone conversations were AI-based whereby the chatbot pretended to be a 10-year-old girl and Doughty sent sexualised messages in response.
Now 23, he admitted three offences of making indecent images of children in respect of their downloading, failing to comply with notification requirements, and breach of an SSO by the commission of further offending.
“Looking at the evidence in the round and the sexualised chats, you do have a sexual interest in children and are incapable of admitting this…” The court heard that as part of his sentence in November 2024 he was ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirements.
However, by the time of his arrest a year later the probation service had not even given him a start date for those sessions.
Doughty, who left school with four GCSEs, achieved a diploma in art, and worked as a mechanic, was also said to have low intelligence, ADHD and social function difficulties.
But, on sentencing, Judge Daniel Stevenson said while those factors could be taken into account as part of his mitigation, they had not caused his offending behaviour nor reduced his culpability.
Jailing Doughty for 10 months, the judge told him: “You maintain you have no recollection of downloading indecent images of children although you accept you must have done so.
“ I don’t accept this.
Looking at the evidence in the round and the sexualised chats, you do have a sexual interest in children and are incapable of admitting this.”
