January 2021

‘A danger to children’: Paedophile sent naked pictures to ’14-year-old’s’ Grindr account

A paedophile who sent naked pictures of himself to what he believed was a young teenage boy over dating app Grindr has been branded a ‘danger to children’.

Jordan Lee Shipman thought he was sending explicitly sexual messages to a 14-year-old boy while on the app, but was in fact talking to an adult man.

The 26-year-old attempted to arrange a meeting with the decoy while sending messages to him on October 31, last year.

Shipman was snared after the man using the app recognised him and was aware of his previous convictions for sex offences.

He then set up a fake profile pretending to be a teenage boy called ‘Andy’, with Shipman striking up a conversation within “mere moments”.

Shipman, of Mansfield Avenue, Thornaby, appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday via video link from HMP Durham.

He was sentenced for arranging to facilitate a child sex offence, attempting to communicate with a child and breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

Dr Chris Wood, prosecuting, said the man who set up the fake profile contacted police about the messages Shipman was sending and had been aware of his history.

The decoy, ‘Andy’, asked Shipman if he had ever met up with anyone his age before, to which he replied: “Everyone needs to start somewhere”.

The chat soon turned explicitly sexual, with Shipman asking for pictures of the boy and called him a “naughty boy”.

Shipman, who was using the profile name ‘Hi Guys’, then asked if the boy could travel to his home, and forwarded over his address before sending pictures of his penis.

Dr Wood said that Shipman told the boy he wanted him to travel to his home so that they could have sex.

Further messages were sent, before the decoy blocked Shipman on the app and notified the authorities, sending screenshots of the chat.

Dr Wood added that as Shipman was blocked on the Grindr app, the chat was automatically deleted, putting him in breach of his SHPO.

The court heard that police went to arrest Shipman at his home where he immediately admitted what happened.

He told officers he “knew he shouldn’t have continued the conversation but couldn’t help himself as the temptation was too great”.

The court heard that he admitted he found teenage boys as young as 13 attractive.

Shipman, who had two previous convictions for five offences, had been given an 18 month prison sentence in June 2016 for making and distributing indecent images.

He was also made subject to a 10 year SHPO.

But in June, last year, after his release from prison, Shipman was back in front of a judge for breaching his SHPO and was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

He was in breach of this at the time of his October offences.

Sentencing him, Judge Stephen Ashurst said it was a “troubling case” and branded Shipman a “danger to children”.

He said it was clear Shipman is attracted to children and young teenage boys in particular.

He added: “You find it extremely difficult to control your sexual drive and you’re at very high risk of further sexual offending.”

Shipman was given an extended prison sentence, meaning he must serve four years in prison before being released and then serve a further four years on licence.

June 2020

Image of young football team deleted by convicted sex offender to avoid ‘temptation’

A convicted sex offender who deleted a picture sent to him of semi-naked young footballers has narrowly avoided being sent back to prison.

Jordan Shipman was sent the email after joining in online conversations sharing experiences of his sexual attraction to young boys, a court heard.

The 26-year-old is banned from deleting any digital history from his electronic devices after being convicted of making and sharing indecent images of children when he was jailed for 18 months in 2016.

Shipman found himself back before the courts after a regular check on the sex offender discovered he had failed to register a bank card, which he was expected to do as part of his sex offender notification requirements.

It later emerged that he had deleted the email with the inappropriate image as well as a social media app used to talk with people online, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Tom Mitchell, prosecuting, said: “During the visit Jordan Shipman’s mobile phone was checked by police officers and it was clear that emails had been deleted.

“There was one of a young football team where the players were in a state of undress.”

Mr Mitchell said the defendant also admitted to using the internet to watch ‘live’ pornography on a pay-to-view system.

Shipman, of Mansfield Avenue, Thornaby, pleaded guilty to three breaches of his sexual harm prevention order from August last year as a result of the police visit.

In 2016, Judge Stephen Ashurst put him on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, and imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which limits his internet use.

He was initally arrest after experts spotted he had been sending child abuse pictures and videos to Youtube. An examination of Shipman’s computer showed he had uploaded 138 images.

Judge Howard Crowson, sentencing Shipman to 12 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, said: “When you deleted these emails and messenger service, it seems improbable that anyone in the community service would advise you to delete things that they are there to monitor.

“It seems to me that you wanted to delete them because you didn’t want them to be seen. Some of these were representative of the fact that you had an ongoing attraction to young boys.”

June 2016

Teesside loner shared indecent images of children

A pervert who shared indecent images of children with paedophiles to “feel important” was last night starting an 18-month prison sentence.

Jordan Shipman was said by his lawyer to be isolated and spent too much of his life talking to strangers in chatrooms and on social media sites.

He was arrested at his home in a Thornaby, near Stockton, after experts spotted he had been sending child abuse pictures and videos to Youtube.

An examination of Shipman’s computer showed he had uploaded 138 images, and a further nine were found on the 22-year-old’s mobile phone.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday that he told police he had started communicating with others online about eight months before he was arrested.

Shipman, of Mansfield Avenue, Thornaby, admitted charges of making and distributing indecent images of children.

Judge Stephen Ashurst also put him on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, and imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which limits his internet use.

The judge told him: “You also downloaded images of children and you say in your pre-sentence report that you did not get any sexual satisfaction from doing that.

“Whether that’s true or not, you must have known that some of the images were particularly disgusting, and distributing and passing them into other people is a serious crime.”