MARK HARGREAVES FROM WAKEFIELD SENTENCED IN SHEFFIELD FOR ONLINE SEXUAL PREDATION

MARK HARGREAVES FROM WAKEFIELD SENTENCED IN SHEFFIELD FOR ONLINE SEXUAL PREDATION

An online predator has been sentenced to prison after attempting to engage sexually with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old girl and arranging to meet her.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that 34-year-old Mark Hargreaves had contacted and communicated with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

However, he was actually communicating with a fake profile operated by members of the public aiming to catch paedophiles.

Nicola Quinney, prosecuting, stated that Hargreaves told the profile he was interested in having sex with the girl when she was older and expressed a desire to teach her.

He also sent an explicit picture claiming to be his own.

Hargreaves had arranged to meet her at Barnsley bus station, but when he failed to appear, the group behind the fake profile visited his home and alerted the police.

Judge Peter Kelson QC commented, "Against that background, you as a predator prowling the internet looking for underage girls—found her and you quickly turned conversational matters sexual." Hargreaves, of Emblem Terrace, Wakefield, who has no previous convictions, admitted to attempting to communicate sexually with a child between September 2019 and February 2020.

In his defense, Richard Canning urged the judge to consider a rehabilitative sentence, stating, "This was a wake-up call for him and he has turned his life around and made some very positive steps.

I ask your honour to allow him to continue down the right path." However, Judge Kelson concluded that a suspended sentence was inappropriate given the circumstances and sentenced Hargreaves to 12 months in prison.