Sex pest, 26, harassed teenage girls on internet
A socially isolated man who used the internet to invite two teenage girls to indulge in sexual activity has been given a suspended sentence.
Bryan Anthony Bowen, 26, of Borfa Green, in Welshpool, admitted the two charges relating to July and October of last year after a further harassment charge was dropped.
Judge Rhys Rowlands, sitting at Mold Crown Court said that the defendant, who attended a special school, led an isolated existence with no friends of his own age.
He was “trying to live out some sort of fantasy”, said the judge, who told how Bowen' offending was born out of his own inadequacy.
The defendant was small in stature, and emotionally inadequate. He had no previous convictions, and the judge said that while what he had done was “very, very wrong” if he was sent to prison he would have a very hard time.
There, the defendant would be picked upon and it would be quite a difficult exercise to manage his time in prison, he explained.
After thinking about his case long and hard, the judge said that he had been persuaded to suspend the inevitable prison sentence.
Bowen received a 48-week prison sentence suspended for two years and was placed on rehabilitation.
He must follow programmes devised by the probation service and as a punishment he will remain indoors between 9pm and 7am for three months under a tagged curfew.
But Judge Rowlands warned that if he breached the order then he would be sent to prison.
Bowen was made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and he was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years.
Judge Rowlands told him that girls aged 13 and 15 had “quite enough on their plates” without men like him pestering them and asking for photographs.
Prosecuting barrister Anna Price said that a girl aged 15 was shocked and angry to receive a message from the defendant.
Arrested and interviewed, he said that he thought the girls were older.
Defending barrister, Dafydd Roberts, said his client had learning difficulties, had attended a special school, and would benefit greatly by assistance from the probation service to get on with his adult life.
