February 2021
Richmond man jailed after being snared by paedophile hunters for second time
A judge told a Richmond man he “appeared to have no shame” as he jailed him for sending graphic sexual messages and voice recordings to a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl called Sophie.
It was the second time 58-year-old Alan White had been sentenced after being snared by a decoy from an online paedophile hunting group.
Today, White, of Reeth Road, Richmond was sentenced to two years and four months for the latest offences.
Teesside Crown Court heard how White contacted a user on an online chatroom on December 14 last year.
The user immediately said she was a 14-year-old girl.
White, however, engaged her in conversation initially on the chatroom, but within days he had asked to move the chat to WhatsApp.
The defendant told the defendant she was “gorgeous” and told her he’d like to kiss her and touch her.
He asked her to take her clothes off, touch herself in a sexual manner and describe what it felt like.
He continued despite the user telling him it was painful,
He asked the user for naked pictures, promising he would later delete them.
White also sent audio messages, including graphic descriptions of what he would like to do to the user.
The court heard that in one message the defendant appeared to be masturbating.
White pleaded guilty to two charges — attempting to communicate with a girl under 16 for sexual gratification and inciting a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity.
The court heard White had sent a letter to the judge ahead of the sentencing.
Kelleigh Lodge, mitigating, said her client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
She added: “What’s clear from the letter is that he is genuinely sorry for his behaviour.
“He also knows what he needs to do to make sure this sort of offence doesn’t occur in the future.”
But Judge Howard Crowson told the defendant he did not believe his claim to a probation officer that he was engaging the Sophie in conversation because he felt “sorry” for her.
He added that the defendant’s claim he was not sexually attracted to children was “wholly implausible”.
The judge added: “In a letter to me you write of shame but I have been unable to accept that as genuine.
“You appear to have no true shame. You appear to be a man who clearly has a sexual attraction to children and I agree with the assessment of the probation officer that you represent a serious risk of harm to children, specifically adolescent females.”
A sexual harm prevention order was also imposed.
The offences took places just a month after a suspended sentence for similar crimes had ended.
In November 2018, White appeared at the Middlesbrough court after he had contact over the internet with someone he thought was a child.
However, it was also an adult member of a so-called paedophile hunter group posing as a child.
The group, called Keeping Kids Safe, later knocked on the man’s door to confront him about the online contact.
Police then arrived and arrested him.
White was handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, for a number of sex offences, including sexual communication with a child and possessing indecent images of a child.
White was snared by online paedophile hunters two years ago has admitted again contacting a child over the internet for sexual purposes.
Alan White, 58, formerly of Reeth Road, Richmond, but now listed in court documents as having no fixed address, appeared before York Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The offences occurred between December 14 last year and January 15 this year
January 2021
Man snared by paedophile hunters admits new child sex offences
