CARDIGAN MAN SENT VIDEOS OF HIMSELF MASTURBATING TO 'GIRL'
A ‘LONELY, isolated individual’ who was ‘living as a recluse’ sent videos of himself masturbating to who he thought was a 14-year-old girl.Prosecutor Ian Wright told Swansea Crown Court that Gavin Carter messaged an account named ‘Lilly’ on social media on June 26.
Lilly was actually a decoy account set up by a paedophile hunter group.
When Carter said he was 45, she replied that she was 14.
Despite this, he gave her his number and the conversation moved to WhatsApp.
The defendant told Lilly he wanted to join her in the bath, and discussed kissing her and sexually touching her.
On June 26, Carter sent her a video of himself masturbating, and four days later he sent another of these videos to Lilly.
That same day Carter instructed the ‘girl’ to do a sex act with a banana, before asking if he could see her doing this.
There continued to be some sexual conversations between Carter and the decoy, Mr Wright said, however the defendant then stopped responding.
The paedophile hunter group showed up at Carter’s home on July 12.
Police attended, and the defendant was arrested.
Carter denied having a sexual interest in children, but accepted that he had sent the sexual messages after the decoy had said they were 14, and admitted that he had solicited sexual images from her.
The defendant pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child, attempted incitement of a child to engage in sexual activity, and two offences of attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
The court heard Carter, of Felin Bach in Cardigan, had “many” previous convictions recorded against him but none for sexual offences.
Dan Griffiths, in mitigation, said: “He is under no illusions as to the seriousness of what he did.” Mr Griffiths said a pre-sentence report painted a picture of the defendant as “a lonely, isolated individual” who was “effectively living as a recluse” and had been drinking alcohol to excess.
He said the defendant realised what he was doing was wrong and cut off contact with the decoy a week before his arrest and made admissions in his police interview.
“He told officers he was disgusted in himself,” Mr Griffiths said.
He added: “Nearly all of the previous convictions are linked in some way to the excessive consumption of alcohol.” Carter was sentenced to 20 months, suspended for two years.
The defendant must complete a six-month alcohol treatment programme, 150 hours of unpaid work, and 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
He must register as a sex offender for 10 years, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.
