June 2022 Colchester sex offender is snared by undercover policeman A pervert who attempted to arrange sexual contact with two children he believed to be real was snared by an undercover police officer. Michael Vinson told the court that he became lonely during lockdown last year and began watching pornography online to remedy his feeling of isolation. Ipswich Crown Court heard on Thursday how the 28-year-old began a conversation with the covert policeman who said he had two nieces aged seven and ten. Vinson revealed to the officer what he planned to do to the girls in a sexual way and had asked for explicit pictures of them to be sent to him via messenger app Kik. However, Vinson, of Axial Drive, Colchester, made a last minute excuse to the undercover explaining he could no longer go to meet the fictitious youngsters when the opportunity arose. The defendant admitted attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence between March 21 and April 10 of last year at a hearing at court last month. He also admitted possessing two extreme pornographic still images and four videos depicting a person performing sex acts with an animal on or before April 15 of last year. Judge Emma Peters handed Vinson a two year prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered him to take part in a sex offenders’ treatment programme. He was also given a 30 day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work. Vinson was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for ten years and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for the same time period.