AN OSWESTRY man, who persistently asked 13-year-old girls for explicit pictures, not knowing that they were decoys, has avoided a jail sentence.

Carl Davies, 53 and of Aspens Court in English Walls, was sentenced to 10 months and one week – suspended for 18 months – at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Thursday, August 1, for two offences of talking to young teens for his own sexual gratification.

The two incidents date back to September 2021.

Oliver King, prosecuting, told Recorder Rachel Brand that a woman who was part of an online group called Predator Exposure was contacted by Davies over Facebook, using her ‘Sophie Brown’ alias.

Mr King told the court that Davies messaged "Hi" and then proceeded to tell ‘Sophie’ that he as 50, to which she replied that she was 13.

OTHER NEWS:

He then added her on Snapchat, exchanged headshot pictures before he then sent her a picture of an erect penis.

Davies asked for a similar picture from ‘Sophie’ to which the decoy said that she was 13 and he replied "be OK".

The defendant "persistently" asked for pictures of the girl’s genitalia in September 2021, sent a further two penis pictures, and then ended the chat.

Predators Exposure then collated the messages, confronted Davies and sent them to police when he was arrested.

Police, investigating his phone,  also found a conversation with an ‘Alexis’, also 13, but Mr King said it was unknown if she was a decoy or not.

But police found the messages to follow the same pattern as Sophie.

Mr King said that an aggravating feature of the offending was the persistence with which Davies asked for the pictures.

Paul Smith, defending, said that his client deserved credit for an early guilty plea and also that he had not offended during the three years since he was arrested.

Mr Smith also said that his client had a problem with mental health and alcohol and had sought help in Oswestry, and that he spent three years waiting to be charged.

Recorder Brand, sentencing, said: “You sent and solicited indecent images from people you believed to be children.

“There was persistence and the offences are against young people and all of that adds to a prison sentence.

“I balance out that with the fact you’re 53 and never been here before and each of these offences happened over days and not a long time.

“You deserve credit for guilty pleas so I reduced that to 45 weeks, and I have been persuaded that it’s possible to suspend it.

Get in touch

Share your views on this story by sending a letter to the editor. To get in touch email news@bordercountiesadvertizer.co.uk, or fill in the form on this section of our website.

“I know that you have faced hostility in your community for this and that is a punishment for someone like you.”

He was ordered to undergo a six-month alcohol abstinence programme with 15 rehabilitation days and a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) ‘until further notice’.

This will restrict his internet use and his phone was destroyed.