Newport man receives suspended sentence for child grooming and explicit content possession

NEWPORT MAN RECEIVES SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR CHILD GROOMING AND EXPLICIT CONTENT POSSESSION

A paedophile known as Matthew Larcombe, aged 29 and living in Newport, engaged in sexual communications with underage girls via Snapchat.

He was arrested after police received intelligence about his activities and subsequently seized his phone, which contained conversations with four accounts allegedly belonging to girls aged between 13 and 15 years old.

The exchanges took place between October and November of the previous year.

Larcombe’s chats included sending explicit images of himself, asking to meet the decoys, and making sexual advances.

In one instance, he referred to a 13-year-old decoy as his 'queen' and in another, he asked for photographs of her genitals.

He also sent images of his penis and expressed a desire to be her boyfriend.

During his arrest, police found him in possession of extreme pornographic images involving adults and animals.

Larcombe pleaded guilty to multiple charges including engaging and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and possession of extreme pornography.

Despite claims of having no sexual attraction to children, he acknowledged his behavior was wrong.

The court sentenced him to a 16-month suspended imprisonment for two years, ordered him to undertake 35 sessions of an accredited sexual harm prevention program, and imposed a 30-day rehabilitation activity.

Additionally, he was placed under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and on the sex offender register for 10 years.

The sentencing judge remarked that his fantasies had 'run completely out of control' and warned that if evidence showed he had contacted real children, a custodial sentence would have been immediate.