PAEDOPHILE HUNTERS SNARE STOKE PERVERT HAVING SEX CHATS WITH 'GIRL, 13'
Pervert Thomas Handley attempted to encourage a 13-year-old girl to send him naked pictures of herself and perform a sex act.But the 30-year-old was in fact communicating with the 365 Hunters group.
They detained him and contacted police who found a small number of indecent images of children and extreme pornographic images on his phone.
Now Handley has been sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
The sting happened on Corporation Street, in Stoke, at 10.13pm on January 12, 2024.
Prosecutor Sabhia Pathan said: "The defendant was arrested for suspected communication with a child.
Police recovered a phone from his person.
A search was made at the defendant's address and various digital devices were recovered.
Material was only found on the phone." Miss Pathan said the paedophile hunters had uploaded a decoy of a 13-year-old girl called Grace and she was contacted by the defendant on an app.
Miss Pathan added: "She identified herself as a 13-year-old.
The defendant asked for a naked image of her standing in the mirror with no towel on.
He instructed her to masturbate.
He blocked and unblocked the decoy.
She told him she was 13 and at school.
She said she was not liking school and people think she is ugly.
The defendant said she is far from ugly.
She said she lived with her mother.
He said he sympathised with her.
The Crown says this was a mechanism to gain her confidence and generate further conversation.
He asked her to take a picture of the mirror with no clothes on." During his detention, Handley admitted speaking sexually to girls aged 13 and 14 as he was lonely.
Miss Pathan said police found five category A indecent images, a category B image, and three extreme pornographic images.
She added: "Various search terms were recovered including 'pre-teen', 'kid porn', and '0-17-year-old' which shows he was searching wilfully to find this material." Handley, of Butler Street, Stoke, pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child; attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity of a non penetrative nature; two charges of making indecent images of children; and possession of extreme pornography.
Stuart Muldoon, mitigating, said Handley has no previous convictions or cautions.
He added: "He is ashamed and embarrassed about the way he behaved in 2023/2024.
At that time he was smoking a large amount of cannabis and spent a lot of time alone.
He knew there were going to be charges coming.
He has tried to progress himself.
He has taken a Changes course about how to cope with mental health and a sign language course.
He is in the second year of an Open University degree course in history.
He is no longer smoking cannabis.
Where there is a sufficient prospect of rehabilitation, a community order can be imposed as an alternative to a custodial sentence.
He does have significant mental health issues.
There is a sufficient prospect of rehabilitation." The suspended prison sentence includes a 40-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 240 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Graeme Smith told Handley: "I am sentencing you for two separate types of offence, the communication you had with someone you believed to be a 13-year-old girl and what you discussed and encouraged her to do, and the indecent images found on your phone.
They are real children suffering real abuse all around the world.
That industry only exists because people like you are prepared to view those images.
Having said that, there are a very small number of images." "It is positive to hear of the progress you have made and the support you are receiving.
There is significant personal mitigation.
You have also expressed very genuine remorse and resolved not to offend in this way again.
You are a low risk of re-offending and the probation service positively feel they can work with you to rehabilitate you." Handley is now on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years and subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same period.
