PRISONER AT KIRKHAM JAILED FOR SENDING SEXUALISED MESSAGES TO GIRL
A serving prisoner at HMP Kirkham used a smuggled mobile phone to send sexualised messages to a 12-year-old girl, a court has heard.Kevin Hardwick, of no fixed abode, was messaging the girl as well as at least one other decoy all whilst pretending to be a 14-year-old, even sending a picture of a teenager to fake his identity.
Police enquiries discovered a hidden mobile phone in his cell that he had used to research his own name, plus ‘social media for 11-year olds’ and ‘social media and child grooming’.
Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, Hardwick was charged with possession of a specified item in a prison, attempted sexual communications with a child, sexual communications with a child, and inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity including penetration.
The 47-year-old, who pleaded guilty to the charges, was last week sentenced to eight years and nine months and is now subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
In a Victim Impact Statement, the victim’s mother said: “To find out a fully grown man was posing as a young teenage boy is quite frankly vile.
And to find out this man was in a prison cell at the time made me sick to my stomach.
How on earth was this male even able to have a phone in his cell?” She continued: “We try not to hold her back through what has happened, but that feeling of dread of who or what she encounters in the wider world has been massively heightened and will stay with us forever because of this individual.” DC Charlie Brown said: “Hardwick is a paedophile who lured a young girl into speaking to him, by posing as someone who is a similar age.
“His actions are sickening – it was clear that he knew what he was doing and had researched what platforms were best to groom children online.
“I hope the custodial sentence can bring the victim and her family, who have shown incredible strength in this time, some sort of closure.
“If you have been a victim of a sexual offence, please know that we will listen to what you report, and investigate it thoroughly to do all we can to get you justice.”
