A 62-year-old man has been jailed for depraved online sex chats after he was snared for a third time by a paedophile hunter group.
Alan White, formerly of Richmond but now of Bedale, contacted what he thought was a 14-year-old girl but was in fact an adult member of an online vigilante group posing as a child, Teesside Crown Court heard.
White was subject to a strict court order at the time to curb and monitor his online activities following previous convictions for similar offences.
Prosecutor Jonathan Gittins said that a so-called online paedophile-hunting group in South Wales contacted North Yorkshire Police’s child-online safety team to inform them that “a man called Alan” had been engaging in sex chats with an adult decoy on an internet platform called Rando Chat.
The decoy had pretended to be a 14-year-old girl and gathered evidence which was provided to police who arrested White at his home in South End Avenue on September 3.
During his arrest, they noticed a Samsung tablet on his bedside table.
When an officer checked the tablet, the Rando Chat app was open, with the screen clearly showing the sordid sex chats with the adult decoy.
They began on October 31, when White, under the alias “Chalky”, sent a message to the decoy who said she was 14 and from Cardiff. During the conversation, which White instigated, he asked for a topless picture of the ‘girl’.
“He asked whether she had a boyfriend (and) if she had ever kissed anyone,” said Mr Gittins.
White said he “fancied her” but that she should not tell her mother about their conversation.
He asked what she was wearing and told her in no uncertain terms the sexual acts he would like to engage in with her.
“He asked for pictures and a chat over the telephone and said they could have a long-distance relationship, and said he loved her,” added Mr Gittins.
He then asked her to perform a lewd act on herself, gave her “clear instructions of what to do” and told her it would “feel nice”.
“He asked how it made her feel,” said Mr Gittins.
Police turned up on White’s doorstep at about 11.30pm on September 3 and seized the Samsung tablet.
He immediately owned up but told officers he was “not getting any sexual gratification” out of the chats and that he “wanted a relationship but not with a young girl”.
“He said he was bored and lonely (but) that was no excuse,” added Mr Gittins.
White was charged with attempting to cause or incite a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity, attempted sexual communication with a child under 16 years of age and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.
The court heard that in 2021, White was jailed for 28 months and made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order for previous offences of attempted online sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a girl under 16 to engage in sexual activity after he was again trapped by “paedophile hunters”.
In that case, White contacted a user in an online chatroom in December 2020. The user immediately said she was a 14-year-old girl.
Despite this, White told her she was “gorgeous” and that he’d like to kiss and touch her, then asked her to take her clothes off and perform a lewd act on herself. He also asked her for naked pictures, promising he would later delete them.
One of the prohibitions of the sexual harm order was that White was to have no contact with any females under the age of 18, which he breached by committing the new offences between August 31 and September 3.
In October 2018, he received a 12-month suspended prison sentence at Teesside Crown Court for three counts of attempting to incite a girl under 16 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and four counts of making indecent images of children after being snared by another vigilante group called Keeping Kids Safe.
White, who chose to represent himself in court, told judge Nathan Adams: “I accept that my behaviour hasn’t exactly been exemplary, and I realise that there are consequences to that.”
The defendant added: “I’ve built myself a life in Bedale (and) I keep myself to myself. I don’t believe I’m a threat, or pose a threat, to anybody.
“I don’t go out; I don’t go to the pub. I keep myself occupied by doing jigsaws, (watching) TV, studying.”
Judge Adams told White: “It cannot be said that this was anything other than a serious breach (of the sexual-harm prevention order) given that you were speaking to a young ‘child’ and actively encouraging her to engage in sexual activity.”
He said although it wasn’t an actual child, White presumed her to be so and his offences were aggravated by his record for similar behaviour.
White received a 16-month jail sentence but will only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.
He will remain subject to the sexual harm order.
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