MAN JAILED OVER SEXUAL MESSAGES TO 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A man with a history of online abuse and a history of offending has been sentenced to prison after he offered to send explicit pictures to a 15-year-old girl via Snapchat.David Collings, from Topsham, falsely claimed to be a 21-year-old named Gypsy Davy living in London, but in reality, he is a 26-year-old with a record of online misconduct.
Despite being subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) that banned him from using Snapchat, he installed the app on his phone in defiance of police instructions.
Exeter Crown Court was told that he operated two separate Snapchat accounts, named Davyboy and GypsyDave, through which he contacted an Essex-based girl earlier this year.
The police were alerted after the girl’s mother discovered messages in which Collings offered to share pictures of his ‘big package’ and sent a voice message asking, “I’ve got a big package, can you handle it?” The girl was evidently distressed by these exchanges.
Collings is a registered sex offender who has previously performed webcam sexual acts while being watched online by a girl aged 11.
The SHPO was intended to prevent him from re-offending and allowed authorities to monitor his online activity.
Officers conducting unannounced visits caught him with Snapchat on his phone four times within six months.
On the first occasion, he received a warning; on the other three, he was prosecuted.
Collings, residing on Exeter Road, pleaded guilty to communicating sexually with a child, breaching the SHPO twice, and breaching a suspended sentence imposed earlier for one breach.
He was jailed for a total of a year and 10 months by Judge Timothy Rose, who put him on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and imposed a tighter SHPO which will last for the same length of time.
