Paedophile hunters catch Preston man talking to underage girl on Facebook
Paedophile hunters unmasked a 37-year-old man after he sent indecent photographs to a Facebook user he thought was a 13-year-old girl, a court in Preston was told.
Kenneth Parry was trapped by a group called Innocent Voices UK when he began a sexual conversation with an adult posing as a child called Megan.
He asked her to be his girlfriend, told her she was “so hot” and posted a picture of his private parts asking: “Do you like that?” But all along it was a “sting” by an unofficial vigilante group aimed at flushing out online predators.
Parry, from the Preston area, but of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to one charge of attempting to have sexual communication with a child.
He was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for a year. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order strictly controlling his contact with children for the next 10 years both in person and online.
He must also keep police aware of any changes in his address and other personal details, also for 10 years.
The city’s Crown Court was told a female decoy from Innocent Voices went online pretending to be a girl of 13 or 14 years old.
She monitored three separate Facebook accounts set up by Parry between March 2022 and April 2023.
Graham Rishton, prosecuting, said the vast majority of messages initially were “neither here nor there”. But for a few days in April the messages “strayed into criminality”.
Parry told the girl he had found himself homeless and asked her: “Would you like to have a boyfriend?”
He asked her about meeting up and said: “Can we keep it a secret please?” The conversation then went on to: “Can I be your boyfriend? Can I send you a picture – a willy picture?”
He then sent a photograph of his private parts asking: “Do you like the picture? Do you like my willy?” But soon after he deleted the photograph and said: “I can get into trouble for that.” He then told her: “You’re so beautiful. You’re so hot.”#
At that point police were informed and Parry was arrested. But in an interview with officers he claimed another man had used his phone to send the messages. He said he had only known the man for a short time.
When the phone was analysed police found a selfie of Parry which had been taken at exactly the same time as the indecent image.
Barrister Olivia English, representing Parry, urged Judge Ian Unsworth KC not to send her client straight to prison and to consider a suspended sentence instead.
She said he had mental health and drug issues and would welcome help which he could access easier in the community. He had no previous convictions and would be a vulnerable man in custody.
Judge Unsworth said Parry had continued to blame someone else for sending the messages instead of owning up. This was, he said, common in such cases.
He told Parry that he was prepared to pass a suspended sentence but warned him that if he did not stick to the conditions of that he would find himself back in court facing up to five years in jail.
“This was a short-lived attempt to communicate with someone who you believed to be a 13 or 14-year-old girl,” he said.
“You made an attempt to evade justice by deleting images and asking her to keep it secret.”
And he added Parry’s messages had been sent in a “childish way” and he presented as someone who was “relatively immature”.
He ordered him to complete 40 days of rehabilitation activities and said: “You have to embrace this opportunity – and it is an opportunity.”