MAN WITH MENTAL AGE OF 8 WAS SNARED BY ONLINE PAEDOPHILE HUNTERS
A man with the mental capacity of an eight-year-old was prosecuted after being caught by online paedophile hunters, who posed as two 13-year-old girls.Stuart Thompson, aged 52, is now registered as a sex offender after he contacted Facebook profiles created by the vigilantes.
Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, remarked: “He is mentally younger than the children he believed he was communicating with.” Thompson exchanged sexual messages with the fake profiles and even arranged to meet one of the supposed girls, but the vigilantes revealed their true identities and reported him to the authorities.
He claimed he had no intention of engaging in sexual activity with minors, asserting he only wanted to make friends.
He resides in sheltered accommodation in York.
Medical assessments determined his mental age to be approximately 8 years and 10 months.
He pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to communicate sexually with a child, which automatically led to his registration as a sex offender.
The court sentenced him to a three-year community order with rehabilitative programs and imposed a five-year sexual harm prevention order that restricts his internet access.
Thompson stated he was no longer using Facebook.
His solicitor pointed out that the vigilantes were unaware of his mental age, and psychiatrists believed he was capable of pleading but unlikely to handle a trial.
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed there was enough evidence and that pursuing the case was in the public interest.
