Alan Brocklehurst, a PREDATOR who participated in abhorrent sexual conversations with an individual he thought was a minor, has been incarcerated.
Alan Brocklehurst, residing on Wilson Patten Street in Warrington, Cheshire, WA1, was under the impression that he was engaging in flirtatious exchanges with a 14-year-old minor via internet conversations and WhatsApp on his mobile device.
While enquiring if she desired ‘naughty fun,’ he was actually engaging with a volunteer online aimed at apprehending child sex offenders and safeguarding actual children.
The 50-year-old was apprehended and charged with attempting to induce a kid to participate in sexual activities and with attempted sexual communications with a child.
He appeared to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, where he was told that the only possible sentence was one of immediate imprisonment.
Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, explained how the defendant was using the internet on his mobile phone to access chat rooms and use WhatsApp to talk to someone who was purporting to be a child.
The person in question was a woman volunteering for a ‘child welfare support team’, who had set up a decoy profile claiming to be a 14-year-old girl named Gemma.
Brocklehurst communicated every day with the profile over seven days from December 7 last year, after initiating the conversation on fastflirting.com.
From the outset, the profile declared to the defendant that it was of a 14-year-old girl from Wallsend, with most messages from the defendant ending with kisses.
When informed by the ‘girl’ that she was 14, Brocklehurst said: “It has been ages since I had young p***y.”
He then asked her what she was looking for and gave her his mobile number, after which she asked him to add her on WhatsApp, which he did.
Conversations ranged from him asking to see her in her school uniform to requesting she performed sex acts on herself.
On one of the days, he asked her if she had told anyone about him, and when she said she had not told her mother, Brocklehurst said this was good as she would ‘get mad’.
On another he asked if she wanted ‘naughty fun, while there was also a discussion about her being naked after having a shower, to which the defendant said: “You are gorgeous because you are 14.”.
In addition, the defendant requested she perform sex acts on herself, to which the profile confirmed she had.
The following day, he said that one day he hoped she would show him her boobs and asked if she wanted to meet up with him.
Throughout the period, there were requests from Brocklehurst for the girl to send him ‘naughty pictures’ of herself.
Brocklehurst was identified and arrested on December 16 at his place of work, and police seized his mobile phone. He gave no comment to questions during his interview with officers.
In defence of his client, Jeremy Rawson referenced his guilty pleas, ‘remorse and regret’, and the fact that he is a carer for a dependant relative.
“It is sad to see a man of his age come before the court for offences of this type, when the only way to deal with him is an immediate custodial sentence,” he commented.
“He is sorry for what took place during a period of madness, when he indulged in quite shocking conversations, and he now realises the stupidity of what he has done.
“He recognises offences of this type are not victimless. The internet is a happy hunting ground for people who wish to prey on vulnerable victims,” which recorder Mark Ainsworth described as a ‘parent’s worst nightmare’.
Mr Rawson spoke of Brocklehurst’s lack of any previous convictions and asked that the prison sentence of the ‘otherwise decent and hard-working individual’ to be kept as short as possible.
Before sentencing, recorder Mark said: “You will understand now, if you did not before, the serious view courts take of this sort of conduct.
“There is no way you would not have known that Gemma did not exist, and as far you were concerned, you were communicating with a 14-year-old girl, having her perform sex acts on herself and talking in this sexual way.”
Brocklehurst, of Wilson Patten Street in the town centre, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
He must also abide by a sexual harm prevention order and sex offender registration requirements, both for an indefinite period.
In addition, the court approved an order to deprive the defendant of his mobile phone.
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