DARWEN MAN CAUGHT MESSAGING CHILD DECOYS WITH EXPLICIT PICTURES AND SENTENCED TO COMMUNITY ORDER
A Darwen man named Ricki Hillman was caught by 'paedophile hunter' groups, including 'North West paedophile hunters'.He communicated with decoy accounts on the app 'Meet24' between July 22 and September 25, 2022.
During this period, he contacted six decoys, two of whom, 'Jenna-Rae Davison' and 'Ellie Fletcher', claimed to be 13 and 14 years old in their profiles.
Hillman made contact with one of the decoys on July 23, expressing an interest by saying she looked 'like a nice girl' and he 'wanted some fun'.
The messages included explicit content, with Hillman instructing the decoys to delete pictures of his erect penis after sending them, and there was evidence that he messaged around 200 pages of messages.
He aimed to meet the decoys but pleaded guilty to six counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
The court sentenced him to a three-year community order, including 10 days of rehabilitation activity and 100 hours of unpaid work.
The judge, Sara Dodd, noted that although Hillman asked to meet one of the decoys, his mitigation claimed he would not have gone through with it, and emphasized that the case involved six offenses against different decoys.
She believed that the community order would benefit both Hillman and the community, citing his remorse and past troubled background, including mental health issues and early drug use.
