BLACKBURN MAN JAILED FOR ONLINE CHILD GROOMING AND INDECENT IMAGES
A paedophile named Alan Burton, aged 69, believed he was communicating with a 13-year-old girl online when he started sexual conversations via Facebook with a decoy from an online child protection unit.Burton initially contacted the decoy, who posed as a girl called Ellie May from Belfast, with a friendly message.
The chat quickly became sexualized as Burton expressed disappointment that she was only 13 years old.
Over the course of a month, Burton sent two images and a sexual video, and warned the girl about online grooming predators, repeatedly asserting he was not a paedophile.
The decoy alerted authorities, leading to Burton's apprehension at Burnley bus station.
During police searches of his house in Blackburn, over 15 devices were found, two containing 128 extreme images and 135 prohibited images of children.
Evidence showed browsing history related to child pornography and extreme content involving animals.
Burton claimed he only viewed adult pornography, and his solicitor cited his feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Burton has a criminal record with 19 convictions for 33 previous offences, including a 2005 prison sentence for sexual activity with a female child and a 2009 suspended sentence for breach of notification requirements.
He was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison, given a 15-year sexual harm prevention order, and will be subject to lifelong sex offender notification requirements.
During sentencing, Judge Daniel Prowse noted Burton's explicit communication with the decoy, his comments about the age of consent in Thailand or China, and the fact that he was inciting a child to undertake sexual activity for his own gratification, stating "You present a very clear risk of sexual harm to children.” ——————————————————————————————————- 2025 - BLACKBURN PAEDO JAILED AGAIN FOR BREACHING COURT ORDER —————————————————————————————————— A convicted paedophile from Blackburn reoffended just four days after his release from prison for attempted sexual communications with a child.
Alan Burton, 71, was jailed for three years and nine months in December 2023 after he spoke to a so-called 'paedophile hunter' online, believing it to be a 13-year-old girl.
As part of the sentence, a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) lasting 15 years was imposed.
Burton was released from prison on October 27 and was visited by police officers from the Management of Sexual or Violent Offenders (MOSOVO) unit on November 1.
Officers examined two mobile phones in Burton's possession and found he had TikTok, WhatsApp, DuckDuckGo, and NordVPN downloaded across the devices, putting him in breach of his SHPO.
DuckDuckGo had 75 tabs open, the majority of which were chatrooms including Girls Chat, Girls Free Teen Chat, and Kids Main Chat.
Burton had sent messages in those chat rooms, and also sent a direct message to someone with the account name Alex15.
When arrested, Burton told officers: "I was monitoring the site.
I was lonely and just wanted to chat with someone." He accepted six charges of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
Mitigating, Madeleine de Ferrer, said he was in a "very difficult mental headspace" at the time, but he accepted he shouldn't have done that.
Burton told her the apps were not downloaded by him but by his stepson, though he maintained his guilty pleas and responsibility.
Judge Paul Hodgkinson sentenced Burton to three years in prison, noting his previous 45-month sentence, of which he had only been out for four days.
The existing sexual harm prevention order will continue until 2038.
He was warned that having the apps and engaging with young girls posed a serious risk of harm, with the judge emphasizing the severity of his actions and the risk involved.
