PAUL MCCOMBE AND SHOCKING SEXUAL COMMUNICATIONS IN OXFORDSHIRE
A company director from Oxfordshire has been implicated in a disturbing case involving attempted sexual communication with a minor, specifically a 14-year-old girl.The incident came to light during a police sting operation, which led to serious legal proceedings against Paul McCombe, aged 49.
Originally scheduled to stand trial at Oxford Crown Court on charges of attempting to communicate sexually with a child, McCombe unexpectedly pleaded guilty on Monday, February 20.
This plea came after the court dismissed arguments put forward by his legal team, claiming that evidence should be excluded on the grounds that McCombe was entrapped by undercover police officers.
The prosecution's case, based on evidence collected during the covert operation, was thus allowed to proceed.
The evidence presented revealed that McCombe, who has previously served time for sending inappropriate sexual messages to minors, engaged in a series of online interactions with what he believed was a young girl.
The conversations began when McCombe, under the pseudonym Connor Jones, claiming to be a man in his late twenties, initiated contact via Snapchat on July 15.
The girl, identified as 'M' in court documents—who was actually an undercover police officer operating a decoy account—answered and the communication escalated.
By July 19, the decoy girl asked McCombe if she knew him, to which he falsely responded, “No.” Over the following days, the pair exchanged multiple messages.
It was evident that McCombe was aware of the girl’s alleged age, as he made inappropriate comments, including asking, “When was you 14?
You are sexy.” This indicates that he was aware of her underage status but continued to engage in conversations that suggested an intent to pursue sexual activity.
Throughout their exchanges, the decoy received and sent images.
Interestingly, the messages from the girl did not contain any sexual content, but McCombe’s messages included an image revealing his exposed groin.
Furthermore, in one bizarre exchange, the girl informed McCombe that she was going to Asda with her mother and asked whether she should call him.
McCombe responded inappropriately, “Yes, as long as you are naked haha.” The conversation also revealed McCombe’s attempts to appear professional and his willingness to exploit the communication for his own ends.
When asked about his occupation, he claimed to run his own company.
The girl then asked for a job, to which he responded in a highly inappropriate manner, saying, “You can be daddy’s sex slave.” Later in their dialogue, McCombe mentioned that he planned to visit her, implying the possibility of real-world sexual activity.
Although she claimed her residence was in Newcastle, McCombe, who stated he lived in Oxford, showed interest in meeting her during this visit.
Legal arguments during the case centered around the admissibility of the Snapchat messages.
McCombe’s lawyers argued that the police entrapment defense should prevent some of the evidence from being presented, asserting that the messages were ‘come hither in nature’.
However, Recorder John Ryder KC dismissed this argument, ruling that the messages were admissible and could be examined by the jury.
He stated that the evidence was relevant and not inadmissible on such grounds.
Following this ruling, McCombe, previously residing in Shrivenham, returned to the courtroom and entered a guilty plea to a single count of attempted sexual communication with a child under the age of 16.
The court granted him conditional bail, allowing him to return for sentencing scheduled for April 21.
