MATTHEW PARKER SENTENCED IN SOUTHAMPTON FOR GROOMING INCIDENT AT THORPE PARK

A 41-year-old man named Matthew Parker attempted to meet a supposed 13-year-old boy at a Surrey-based theme park after grooming him online. Parker had been communicating with the boy via Grindr, a dating app tailored for LGBTQ+ users, and stated that he wanted to "kiss, cuddle and hold hands" with the youngster following their online interactions. He went as far as purchasing tickets for a trip to Thorpe Park.

However, the profile Parker was interacting with was a fake, operated by an adult working for the paedophile hunter organization Child Safe UK. Parker, formerly employed as a First Officer on Red Funnel ferries, was arrested in July of last year after arranging the meeting at Thorpe Park.

During court proceedings, prosecutor Nick Wells revealed that Parker’s Grindr profile indicated he was "only into young guys." The conversation later moved to Kik Messenger, another online chat platform, where Parker continued to send "inappropriate messages," including expressing his desire to "kiss, cuddle and hold his hand" but claimed they could do "nothing more."

In mitigation, Lucy Conroy noted that Parker had taken steps such as attending counselling sessions since his arrest.

At Southampton Crown Court last Thursday, Judge Gary Burrell QC described Parker’s case as unusual because he did not explicitly promote sexual messages nor did he request or send sexual images. The judge said, “Throughout the conversation you do not try to promote messages of a sexual nature and you do not request sexual pictures or send any yourself. This is unusual [in these cases].”

Parker, who previously resided in Holbury near Southampton and later moved to Picket Twenty Way, Andover, was sentenced to a 12-month prison term suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 55 days of rehabilitation activity, pay court costs of £600, and was placed under a sexual harm prevention order.

A Red Funnel spokesperson stated that Parker left the company in October 2018. They added, “As the court ruling against Mr. Parker does not pertain to his employment at Red Funnel, it would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment for legal and data protection reasons.”