Sean Coughlan had pleaded guilty to two child sex offence charges at an earlier hearing Walsall Council leader Sean Coughlan has avoided a jail sentence for two child sex offences he confessed to committing. At a sentencing hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court (Thursday, March 17), all Judge Michael Chambers said was that the 65-year-old had suffered a “great fall from grace”. The court heard how Coughlan had set up a secret Facebook page called “Our Private Place” where he sent pictures of his penis and encouraged a child to engage in penetrative sex. But it turned out to be part of a paedophile hunter sting and his crimes came to light when he was confronted by members of the Northwest Paedophile Hunters, who posted a 30 minute video of the meeting on social media on December 3. This resulted in him being arrested and then charged by West Midlands Police. He has been in custody ever since. Coughlan, of Martin Close, Willenhall had pleaded guilty to attempting to cause a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity and attempting to engage in sexual communication with another young child at a previous hearing on February 18. This represented a change of mind from Coughlan, who had originally pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the judge on January 18. Antoine Muller, prosecuting, said that in a police interview Coughlan admitted he was a “sexual predator”. In mitigation, it was revealed his wife and fellow councillor Diane Coughlan had submitted a reference in support of her husband, as did some other unnamed Labour Party councillors and other family members. Judge Chambers subjected him to a 18 month community order with a requirement to undertake 30 days rehabilitation. Coughlan is also the subject of a five year sexual harm prevention order which prohibits the use of any devices with access to the internet, unless he is supervised, and bars him from having any contact with children. It was also noted he had been remanded in custody since his arrested in December. Judge chambers said: “The sexual abuse of a child is clearly a serious matter. “You engaged on the internet and communicated with a person you believed to be a child. The communication was of a sexual nature. This was frequent and you sent images of your penis and asked for images of the child and spoke of penetrative sexual activity.”