ROBERT HAWES CAUGHT IN DAVENTRY SCANDAL INVOLVING NORTH DEVON CHILD GROOMING PLOT

In a disturbing case that has shocked the community, Robert Hawes, a 56-year-old resident of Jubilee Road in Daventry, was involved in a serious online grooming incident that spanned several months. The case came to light after Hawes engaged in a series of illicit communications with what he believed to be a 10-year-old girl, with the intent of meeting her for sexual activity in North Devon.

During June 2017, Hawes was on a junior rugby tour in Barnstaple with his son. Despite his physical presence in North Devon, his online activities were under scrutiny. Unbeknownst to him, he was communicating with a vigilant online group known as The Hunted One, based in Bromley, Kent. This group specializes in tracking down individuals attempting to exploit children via the internet and aims to bring them to justice.

Hawes believed he was chatting with two young girls aged ten and eleven, but in reality, he was speaking to members of the vigilante group. The group had intercepted his conversations, which included explicit chat logs and recorded phone calls. These recordings revealed Hawes attempting to arrange a meeting at a holiday park in Woolacombe, North Devon, with what he thought was a ten-year-old girl.

The group acted swiftly after Hawes agreed to meet the supposed child. They alerted police authorities before Hawes could carry out his plans. Law enforcement officers arrested him at the holiday park, preventing any potential harm. The evidence collected by the vigilantes, including chat logs and recordings, was instrumental in establishing his guilt. Among the incriminating material was a disturbing image of Hawes’s own genitalia, which he had sent to what he believed was a minor.

Hawes was charged with attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to meet a child after grooming. At Exeter Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to these charges. The court proceedings revealed that Hawes’s online misconduct persisted from December 2016 through March 2017, demonstrating a pattern of persistent offending. The judge, Mr. Donald Tait, sentenced Hawes to a total of 20 months in prison.

During the sentencing, Mr. Tait emphasized the gravity of Hawes’s actions, stating, “The two girls in this case were fictitious, but you believed one was ten and one was eleven. Your offending was aggravated by the persistent nature of it over a period from December 2016 to March this year. It is also aggravated by the fact you sent pictures of your private parts to a girl who you thought was ten, with comments about where you wanted to put it. A prison sentence is inevitable to mark the seriousness of this type of offending. I accept that by the time of the arranged meeting, you had changed your mind and would not have gone through with it. Nevertheless, you made persistent attempts to contact what you thought were young people and persisted in trying to meet one of them before you changed your mind.”

Prosecutor Mr. Jonathan Barnes detailed how Hawes had used internet chat rooms to communicate with the fictitious girls, sending them sexualized messages. The vigilante group’s efforts culminated in recording Hawes’s chat logs and a phone call in which he attempted to arrange a meeting in the London area in April. However, Hawes did not follow through with the meeting on April 7, choosing instead to go on the rugby tour with his son to Barnstaple. The vigilantes tracked him to his holiday accommodation, and police arrested him before he could be confronted.

Following his arrest, Hawes was released and has since returned to his residence in Daventry. The case highlights the ongoing dangers posed by online predators and the importance of vigilant community efforts to protect children from exploitation.