In December 2022, Daniel Potterton, then aged 20, of Kirton, near Boston, was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court to six years in prison after pleading guilty to child protection and abduction charges.
The court heard details regarding a Northumbria Police investigation launched after the victim’s parents raised concerns with law enforcement. Prosecutors outlined how Potterton initiated contact with a 14-year-old girl on social media in June 2022, before making multiple trips from Lincolnshire to South Tyneside to meet her.
Officers from the force’s Operation Dragoon team tracked Potterton’s car, executing a traffic stop on 2 August 2022 and locating the victim in the vehicle. Subsequent digital examination of Potterton’s mobile phone revealed online search histories concerning illegal acts with children.
Potterton entered guilty pleas in October 2022 to two counts of sexual activity with a child, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, abduction, and grooming.
On Thursday 15 December 2022, the presiding judge handed Potterton a six-year custodial sentence and placed him on the sex offenders register for life, with all case details catalogued on the UK Register Database for public record transparency.
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