Paedophile who sent explicit messages to sting account avoids jail
A Shropshire paedophile who was arrested in a sting after attempting to meet a young girl at a cinema has been given a suspended jail sentence of two years.
Kieron Davis, aged 27, spent several months writing sexually explicit messages to who he thought was a 13-year-old girl called 'Kitty'.
But, he was actually talking to a decoy from the paedophile vigilante group Our Children Matter, and after arranging to meet at Cineworld in Old Potts Way, Shrewsbury, Davis was confronted by the group before being arrested by police.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that Davis had first started talking to 'Kitty' on October 31, 2019, and was told her age from the outset.
Over the next six weeks, he sent hundreds of messages, asking her if she was a virgin, sending pictures of his genitals and urging her to carry out a sex act.
He also asked "if she had boobs" and if she wanted to be his girlfriend, despite frequently being reminded of 'Kitty's' age. He suggested they go to the cinema together, saying that he would like her to sit on his lap.
The cinema meet-up was arranged for December 14, 2019, and Davis was confronted by the paedophile hunters before his arrest.
Davis, of Cockshutt, near Ellesmere, pleaded guilty to five counts of attempting sexual communication with a child and one count of attempting to meet a child after sexual grooming.
The court heard that Davis has Asperger's syndrome and ADHD.
Judge Peter Barrie handed Davis a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.
He told Davis: "There was clearly a sexual element to these conversations. I must look at the harm you intended to cause, rather than the lack of actual harm that was the result of the deception."
Davis was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work as well as 60 rehabilitation activity days. Judge Barrie also issued a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
