Today (Mon), a homeless guy, Lee Knowles Paedophile, arrested in Skegness following correspondence of sexual messages to four underage girls was imprisoned for fourteen months.
Following a paedophile hunting gang tracking Lee Knowles, 41, to a supermarket car park, he was arrested in February 2022.
After reviewing Lee Knowles’ chat chats, Lincoln Crown Court heard that he had been requesting friends on Facebook.
These included texts addressed to a 13-year-old decoy profile established by the paedophile hunting outfit Lee Knowles thought was a target.
Lee Knowles informed the decoy—who was an adult—that she was “pretty” and wanted to view some pictures while Neil Sands, a prosecutor, observed.
The court heard Lee Knowles also remark, “I would marry someone like you if a bit older” and “I will take your virginity.”
According to Mr Sands, the texts revealed Lee Knowles was also in touch with a second decoy he thought to be a 13-year-old.
Further investigation of his phone revealed Lee Knowles had also been in touch with two additional people he thought were underage girls.
Lee Knowles, of no permanent address, acknowledged four charges of trying to have sexual conversations with a youngster but neglected to show up for court when his punishment was due.
Found in Skegness, police apprehended him and then put him into custody.
Lee Knowles had 33 past convictions but none for sexual offences, the court heard.
The court heard Lee Knowles was “sofa surfing” and drunk heavily at the time of the charges and had no memory of contacting the decoy girls to mitigate.
Passing sentence, Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight informed Knowles he had been requesting friends on Facebook.
Judge Sjolin Knight stated the interaction persisted despite the four accounts’ ages, and his “messages quickly became sexual.”
Judge Sjolin Knight remarked, “The attempt was not for the want of trying.”
Lee Knowles made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years and was also directed to register as a sex offender for ten years.
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