HMP Kirkham prisoner sentenced after sending sexualised messages to girl, 12, from his cell
A prisoner at HMP Kirkham used a contraband mobile phone to send sexualised messages to a 12-year-old girl.
Kevin Hardwick was also in communication with at least one decoy - who Hardwick believed was a child.
He sent an image of a teenager, telling the girl he was 14-years-old. He knew the girl was only 12.
The hidden mobile phone was uncovered during a search of his cell.
In an impact statement, the victim’s mother said: “To find out a fully grown man was posing as a young teenage boy is quite frankly vile. And to find out this man was in a prison cell at the time made me sick to my stomach.
“How on earth was this male even able to have a phone in his cell?”
“We try not to hold her back through what has happened, but that feeling of dread of who or what she encounters in the wider world has been massively heightened and will stay with us forever because of this individual.”
Officers found Hardwick had researched his own name as well as ‘social media for 11-year olds’ and ‘social media and child grooming’.
He was charged with possession of a specified item in a prison, attempt sexual communications with a child, sexual communications with a child, and inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity including penetration.
Hardwick, 47, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to the charges at Preston Crown court on September 17.
He was sentenced to eight years and nine months in jail and made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
Det Chief Charlie Brown, of Lancashire Police’s West Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team, said: “Hardwick is a paedophile who lured a young girl into speaking to him by posing as someone who is a similar age.
“His actions are sickening – it was clear that he knew what he was doing and had researched what platforms were best to groom children online.
“I hope the custodial sentence can bring the victim and her family, who have shown incredible strength in this time, some sort of closure.
“If you have been a victim of a sexual offence, please know that we will listen to what you report and investigate it thoroughly to do all we can to get you justice.”
You can report information by calling 101 or visiting https://doitonline.lancashire.police.uk.
Always call 999 in an emergency.