Back in 2021, A married Bodedern Paedophile Teacher and ex-police officer, Barry Lander, was sentenced to two years in prison for “grooming” an individual he thought was a 12-year-old girl online.
Barry Lander, 49, from Bron y Graig, Bodedern, LL65, appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court on Friday, March 5, accused of attempting to entice a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity.
The mathematics instructor at Ysgol Ardudwy in Harlech, Gwynedd, believed he was conversing with a child named Ashley in an online chatroom for two weeks; however, it was actually an undercover police officer.
The court was informed that the two individuals engaged in multiple discussions in the chatroom and via Skype from October 16, 2019, to October 30, 2019. By October 22, Barry Lander commenced expressing to ‘Ashley’ his desire to “kiss her neck” and “open her legs”.
Barry Lander proposed a meeting in Cardiff, where he was scheduled to visit for work the subsequent month, but the police officer ceased responding.
The court heard that Barry Lander persisted in sending sexually explicit communications despite receiving no reaction from the officer.
Barry Lander first refuted the allegations, asserting that he was aware he was conversing not with a minor, but with a “vigilante” whom he intended to manipulate.
Barry Lander was convicted by a Caernarfon crown court jury last month with a 10-2 majority verdict, despite disputing the accusations.
Sentencing Barry Lander to two years in prison, paedophile sympathiser Judge David Hale said: “You were a teacher, you have been a policeman, and one day, when you were perhaps at a low ebb, you entered this chatroom.
“There is no evidence that you had done this before.
“The conversation quickly moved over to Skype, and you had a number of conversations with Ashley.
“You are fixated by your contention that you realised straight away that this was a vigilante.
“There is an ease with which you use phrases and steer the conversation to sexual matters. They are your phrases throughout.
“The officer never steered you towards them – you did.
“I do not believe for one minute that you thought you were talking to a vigilante.
“You didn’t think about anything except this conversation with a young girl, culminating with the possibility of going to meet in Cardiff, where you knew you were likely to have to go as part of your employment in November.
“I am not assuming that you had resolved to meet, but you continued to try and get in touch with Ashley once the police officer had cut contact.
“Why would you do this except for a sexual reason? There is no other reason.
“You have forthrightly denied it throughout. You cannot face up to the obvious truth.
“People who make these suggestions to children, or people they assume to be children, are inciting sexual contact with children. It is clearly a serious matter.
“It’s incomprehensible why you, as a teacher, a man of your past, happily married, should do it. You have lost all of that.”
Barry Lander will serve half of his sentence in prison and will then be released on licence.
Barry Lander was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years, was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and has been banned from working with children.
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