KEVIN GRIFFITHS AND SHOCKING SEXUAL CHAT IN WREXHAM
A resident of Wrexham, Kevin Griffiths, has been sentenced to prison following allegations of engaging in inappropriate online communications with what he believed to be a teenage girl.Griffiths, aged 51 and residing in Coed Aben, appeared before Mold Crown Court to receive his sentencing after earlier admitting to multiple serious charges.
The charges included two counts of attempting to cause or incite a girl aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity, one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, and two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
The court was informed that these offences took place over a span of ten days in January of the current year.
Prosecutor Brian Treadwell detailed that Griffiths had been previously subject to a strict 10-year SHPO, which had been imposed in 2017.
This order explicitly forbade him from using any internet platform to contact individuals he suspected or knew to be under the age of 16, as well as prohibiting him from sending unsolicited sexual images to any person.
Additionally, Griffiths had been handed a suspended sentence in 2020 due to non-compliance with notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act.
According to the prosecution, during the incidents in January, Griffiths engaged in online conversations with a person he believed to be a girl aged 14.
He used a pseudonym to communicate with her and quickly received confirmation that she was 14, from the other end of the conversation.
It later emerged that the account he was interacting with was a decoy—an online bait designed to mimic a young teenager, and not an actual child.
Despite being informed that his interlocutor was a minor, Griffiths continued the chat.
His messages grew increasingly sexualized, and he went so far as to suggest that the girl perform sexual acts.
He also sent a photograph of his genitals in a naked state.
The police, acting on information, attended his home on January 16 and promptly arrested him, confiscating his mobile phone for evidence.
Defense counsel Simon Rogers emphasized that Griffiths did not attempt to meet with the individual he believed he had been chatting with, and pointed out that the online contact lasted for only a limited time.
Rogers also highlighted that the messages exchanged lacked sophistication but acknowledged his client's full acceptance of responsibility.
The psychiatric assessment presented in court indicated that Griffiths was experiencing symptoms associated with persistent complex bereavement disorder and possibly a neurological developmental disorder, which the defense argued could have contributed to his actions.
The court considered these circumstances before sentencing, underscoring the seriousness of the offences committed by Griffiths, which occurred despite the ongoing restrictions imposed by the sexual harm prevention order.
