Gavin Duckworth, aged 48, of Accrington, Lancashire, has been handed a suspended custodial sentence at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court after engaging in weeks of sexually explicit messaging with an online decoy account he believed was a 13-year-old child.
The communications initially began on Facebook Messenger before Duckworth moved the conversation to the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp. Over several weeks, Duckworth sent messages that became increasingly sexual in nature. The court heard that he attempted to cultivate a friendship with the supposed schoolgirl, made enquiries regarding whether she was sexually active, and requested photographs from her.
Unbeknown to Duckworth, the online persona was operated by an independent group that works to identify adults seeking sexual contact with children. Members of the group compiled the message transcripts and photographic requests and formally submitted the dossier of evidence to Lancashire Police.
Detectives initiated a criminal investigation, which culminated in Duckworth being arrested in July 2025. Officers seized his mobile phone, which was subsequently submitted to digital forensics units to extract and confirm the communication logs.
Duckworth appeared before Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on 25 September, where he entered a formal guilty plea to a single count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
The magistrates imposed a 12-month custodial sentence suspended for an operational period of two years. Alongside the suspended sentence order, the bench made Duckworth subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order lasting for a duration of 10 years, which imposes strict legal boundaries on his digital device access and online communications.
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