GODSTONE MAN SIMON LANDSBERG SENTENCED FOR SEX OFFENCES IN CROWD-SURROUNDED PAEDOPHILE CASE

In February 2021, Simon Landsberg, a 68-year-old man from High Street, Godstone, was sentenced for his involvement in sexually predatory behavior that was exposed by vigilant paedophile hunters. The offenders had lured Landsberg into believing he was communicating with and attempting to meet a 14-year-old girl online. Landsberg engaged in lengthy, mainly sexual conversations with these fictitious profiles, asking about their bodies and expressing admiration for small breasts, and even telling one that he loved her and wanted to kiss, cuddle, and massage her, as reported by Judge Adam Hiddleston. During the confrontation in Ashburton Park, Croydon, on June 20 last year, members of the public challenged Landsberg about his intentions before police arrested him. A video from the scene shows members of the public speaking to him before officers took him away in handcuffs. Initially, Landsberg said his name was ‘David,’ referencing the name he used online, but later admitted to police that his real name was Simon. Landsberg faced charges including three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to meet a child under 16, and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). He had previous convictions, including facilitating a child sex offence for which he received a three-year sentence in 2017, involving two actual children. During the trial at Croydon Crown Court, it was revealed that Landsberg had been engaged with three different online personas posing as 14-year-old girls. The court was told he engaged in extended, sexual conversations with these fictitious profiles, asking about their physical attributes and instructing them to delete messages. Judge Hiddleston recounted that Landsberg told one girl he loved her and wanted to meet her but also said he had previously been in trouble for falling in love with younger girls and instructed her to delete all messages. Disturbingly, the judge stated Landsberg had told one girl he expected her to urinate in her pants when they met. When Landsberg arrived at the park for the supposed meeting, he was confronted by members of the public who had been communicating with him pretending to be the victims. Throughout his dealings, Landsberg lied about his age, claiming he was 43, and discussed intimate acts they might perform. His messages primarily focused on how the girls might sexually stimulate themselves and included instructions to delete all conversations afterward. Following his arrest, police searched his person and found two mobile phones and a WiFi dongle; a subsequent search of his property uncovered a laptop, which had most of the conversations deleted. The court highlighted that Landsberg is ‘dangerous in the way that he has conducted himself’ and that he ‘has made efforts to hide his continuing sexual offending,’ noting he was on licence for previous offences at the time and was breaching several conditions of his 2017 SHPO. A pre-sentence report described his behavior as ‘bordering on obsessive,’ exploiting vulnerable victims, and driven purely by sexual motives—behavior that, if not interrupted, likely would have continued. Landsberg was sentenced to 44 months in prison with an extended licence period of 36 months. Judge Hiddleston also ordered the creation of a new SHPO and the forfeiture and destruction of seized items. In a prior case from September 2017, Landsberg had been jailed for three years after attempting to arrange sexual encounters with minors, including a 14-year-old boy. Prosecutor Mary Walford detailed how police initially became concerned when Landsberg interacted with a convicted sex offender and subsequently contacted a 16-year-old girl with explicit sexual demands, including asking her to send naked pictures. Through her, police learned Landsberg was in contact with a 14-year-old boy, with whom he exchanged sexually explicit messages, discussing masturbation, desiring sex with the girl, and encouraging her to rape her. He arranged a meeting for December 15 last year but was arrested two days early, on December 13, before any meeting occurred. Police found weapons at his home, including a machete, dagger, BB gun, handcuffs, sleeping pills, and satanic literature. Judge Robert Frazer expressed relief that police intervened before any harm could ensue. He remarked, “You have not been able to offer any other reason for your behaviour. On the face of it, this is an out of character offence but it is very serious, involving arrangements for penetrative sex, grooming, and deception.” Landsberg was sentenced to three years in prison, placed on the sex offenders register for life, and subjected to a restraining order forbidding contact with the teenagers.