April 2018 Man sentenced eight years for sex offences against young girls A man has been sentenced for eight years for sexual offences involving three young girls. Matthew Walke, 26, unemployed, of Eskdale Close, Eastbourne, was sentenced at Hove Crown Court on Friday, April 6, having pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to a count of causing or inciting a 13-year old girl to engage in sexual activity on multiple occasions, and attempting to cause or incite two other girls aged 15 and 14, separately, into sexual activity on multiple occasions. Matthew Walke befriended each of the girls over a period of time, gradually pressuring them into sexual exchanges online, and engaging in contact offending against one of them. He also admitted two counts of possessing indecent photographs of the three girls that he had acquired from them online. He was given five years for the causing or inciting offence, and two years for each of the attempts, both to run concurrently with the five-year sentence. He was given one month and three months for each of the indecent photograph offences, both to run concurrently with the five-year sentence. Judge Christine Laing also gave Walke a further three-year sentence, to run consecutively to the five-year sentence, having assessed his level of dangerousness, making a total sentence of eight years. He pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault on a 12-year-old girl. These were not proceeded with, and were directed by the court to lay on the court file. Walke will be a registered sex offender for life, and was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to last until further court order, severely restricting his access to children and computers.