COLCHESTER MAN BLAMES MEDICATION FOR SENDING SEXUAL MESSAGES TO 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A PAEDOPHILE who started sending messages to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl has blamed the offence on not taking his medication.Paul Newman, 27, began messaging a decoy account on Snapchat last July before deleting his profile in an attempt to cover his tracks.
Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard last month Newman, who is a father of two children, sent a message reading “You look fit xx” to the decoy account.
Serena Berry, prosecuting, read out other messages from Newman which read, ‘I feel a bit bad talking to you as you are only 13’.
Other messages read, ‘I think I’m falling for you’, ‘Do you fancy me?’.
Ms Berry said: “The defendant probes about her underwear.
“She tells him she’s on her way to school; he tells her not to go to school because ‘I’m horny and I need you’.” Police investigated Newman after his offending was reported to them by a vigilante group, but before the authorities could seize his phone, the defendant had deleted the Snapchat app.
Further investigation of his device found he had searched, ‘How to permanently delete Snapchat’.
“He has taken efforts to cover up what he has done,” Ms Berry said.
Newman, of no fixed abode, Colchester, admitted one charge of attempted sexual communication with a child.
Chloe Goodey, mitigating, said Newman accepted he had initiated the conversation with the decoy account and tried to call it several times.
She said: “In terms of explanation of how he committed this offence, he does have learning difficulties and poor mental health, having been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
“He had a breakdown in his relationship with his long-term partner, who is the mother to his two children.
“He had not been taking his medication at the time – he was also homeless as a result of the breakdown of his relationship.” Magistrates ordered forfeiture and destruction of Newman’s Huawei phone, and sentenced him to an 18-month community order consisting of 30 rehabilitation days and 300 hours of unpaid work.
He was also ordered to pay £199 in costs and given a sexual harm prevention order to stop him from having any contact with a child under the age of 16.
