In February 2019, the Offender Database reported that Leslie Holt, then 55, of Moorsley Road, Houghton-le-Spring, was sentenced to 13 months in prison at Newcastle Crown Court. Holt, a predatory individual who bragged about abusing children as young as six, was snared by the paedophile hunter group Dark Justice after he targeted someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl on a dating website.
The court heard that Holt engaged in explicit “sex chats” with decoys, boasting that he previously had an 11-year-old “girlfriend” who would skip school to visit his home. He also made sickening claims about kissing a six-year-old and asked a decoy to bring an “eight-year-old friend” to a meeting. When police raided his home in February 2018, they discovered a child-sized blow-up sex doll, female underwear he claimed to have kept from previous victims, and 36 indecent images of children on his electronic devices.
Holt pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, trying to meet a child following sexual grooming, and possessing indecent photographs of children. While Holt’s defence suggested he may not have fully understood the harm of his actions, Judge Edward Bindloss dismissed this, stating that Holt possessed the “skills necessary” to carry out his predatory behaviour. The judge also noted the significant distress Holt had brought upon his own family due to his criminal activities.
Leslie Holt was sentenced to 13 months in prison. The judge further ordered the destruction of the child sex doll and the illicit images recovered from his home. Upon his release, Holt was placed under the supervision of Northumbria Police and the National Probation Service.
As a result of his convictions, Holt is required to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years. He is also subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which includes legally enforceable restrictions on his use of the internet and prohibits any unsupervised contact with minors. He is managed under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in the Sunderland area to ensure community safety.
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