In 2019, the Offender Database confirmed that Phillip Stephens, then 60, of Daviot Street, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court for attempting to meet a girl following grooming. Phillip Stephens was apprehended at Cardiff Central railway station after a police sting operation involving an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl named “Jade.” Despite Stephens being 60 years old and acknowledging the child was in secondary school, he sent her “very graphic” sexual messages, instructed her on how to “play with herself,” and made explicit arrangements to buy condoms and take her back to his home for sex.
The court heard that Phillip Stephens introduced himself on the site “Meet 24” and quickly sexualized the conversation after being told by the undercover officer that she was bored at school. Stephens said the child that “age is only a set of numbers” and urged her to “tell no one about this.” When he arrived at the station to meet her on December 21, he was intercepted by officers; he was reportedly “visibly shaking” and admitted he suspected it was a set-up. A search of his home followed, resulting in the seizure of a laptop, webcam, and USB sticks.
Phillip Stephens pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a girl following grooming and two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. The prosecution revealed his “appalling” history of sexual offending, which included a six-year sentence for rape and indecent assault in 1992, a four-year sentence for further indecent assaults in 2004, and a 2017 conviction for possessing indecent images of children. His defence noted that while Phillip Stephens had previously undergone sexual offender treatment programmes, they had clearly failed to curb his attraction to prepubescent girls.
Judge Michael Fitton QC declared Phillip Stephens a dangerous offender and imposed an eight-and-a-half-year extended sentence. This includes a 42-month custodial term—of which Stephens must serve at least two-thirds before becoming eligible for parole—followed by a five-year extended license period. As a result of his lifelong history of sexual violence, Phillip Stephens is on the Sex Offenders Register for life and is subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). He remains under the highest level of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) monitoring by South Wales Police.
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