UPMINSTER MAN AVOIDS PRISON AFTER PAEDOPHILE HUNTER STING
An Upminster man who attempted to encourage a child into sexual activity has avoided prison.Michael Fogarty, 61, had pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a child into sexual activity and two charges of attempting to engage in sexual communication with children.
At Snaresbrook Crown Court on Thursday (April 2) he was sentenced to 21 months in custody suspended for two years, meaning he left the court a free man.
The court heard throughout December and early January, Fogarty had been engaging in sexual communication with who he believed to be girls aged 12 and 13.
However, the accounts were decoys set up by paedophile hunters.
In messages to the younger girl he encouraged her to commit sexual acts.
Fogarty found himself confronted by paedophile hunters at his doorstep on January 5.
His arrest was livestreamed on Facebook for thousands of people to watch.
As part of the suspended sentence he was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 30 days of rehabilitation activity.
Fogarty will be the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for ten years.
