WARRINGTON MAN JAILED FOR CHILD ABUSE PLOT AFTER ONLINE STING
2025-12-05 21:55: A man has appeared before Warrington Magistrates Court charged with serious offences concerning child sexual abuse.Paul Hankey faced his first hearing on 29 April 2025, relating to allegations involving attempting to arrange or facilitate sexual activity with a child.
He also faced charges of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child.
The case, listed under the reference 05WA0041724, involves accusations of indecent imagery and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
As the case progresses, the court will determine the next steps in the legal process.
Hankey did not enter a plea at this early stage.
He remains on conditional bail ahead of his future court appearances.
The proceedings are part of ongoing investigations into allegations of serious sexual offences.
As this is an active case, further details are unlikely to be disclosed.
The court emphasised the importance of a thorough legal process in handling such sensitive charges.
--------------------------- 2025-09-02 21:54: 2025-12-05 21:55: A man has appeared before Warrington Magistrates Court charged with serious offences concerning child sexual abuse.
Paul Hankey faced his first hearing on 29 April 2025, relating to allegations involving attempting to arrange or facilitate sexual activity with a child.
He also faced charges of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child.
The case, listed under the reference 05WA0041724, involves accusations of indecent imagery and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
As the case progresses, the court will determine the next steps in the legal process.
Hankey did not enter a plea at this early stage.
He remains on conditional bail ahead of his future court appearances.
The proceedings are part of ongoing investigations into allegations of serious sexual offences.
As this is an active case, further details are unlikely to be disclosed.
The court emphasised the importance of a thorough legal process in handling such sensitive charges.
--------------------------- 2025-09-02 21:54: A pervert booked a stay at a holiday cottage in the countryside as he plotted to abuse a 12-year-old girl.
Paul Hankey believed that he was messaging the girl's mum on WhatsApp in order to arrange for her daughter to be sexually assaulted.This even saw him utilise website Booking.com to organise a sordid week-long getaway with the supposed mother and child.
But, unbeknown to him, he was actually being ensnared in an online sting by an undercover police.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday afternoon, Monday, that Hankey contacted a decoy profile being operated by Merseyside Police, an account which purported to belong to a 12-year-old girl's mum, on chatroom Chatiw in the summer of last year.
The conversation subsequently moved to WhatsApp, with the 58-year-old thereafter detailing in a 12-minute voice call with the PC how he wanted to sexually abuse the fictional daughter.Within the following days, the defendant used Booking.com to make a reservation for a six-night stay at a cottage near Buxton, Derbyshire.
In one message, Hankey, of Yardley Avenue in Bewsey, Warrington, told the supposed mum: "It's your daughter I want." While he was subsequently said to have cancelled this booking, he was found with three indecent images of children, one in category A and two in category C, on his phone following his arrest.
He has three previous convictions for eight offences, but none for sexual matters.Simon Christie, defending, told the court that his client was "remorseful and regretful", adding: "He is most anxious that the court should accept that his time in custody, and, more particularly, the time that he has remained sober, has given him the opportunity to reflect on what he did.
Drink has plainly taken hold of him.
Drink is absolutely not an excuse, but it does, to some extent, explain how the defendant was behaving over this period of time." Hankey admitted arranging a child sex offence and two counts of making indecent images of children.
Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool wearing a grey prison issue jumper, he was jailed for four-and-a-half years.Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: "You pursued your interest in the fictional 12-year-old girl through her mother, or the person who you thought was her mother, and made it clear that you had a sexual interest in her.
Of course, the 12-year-old girl did not exist.
But you did not know that."Hankey was also handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
He will be required to sign the sex offenders' register for life.
