Darren Hughes, aged 45, of Gilbert Street, Holyhead, Anglesey, was sentenced to five years and one month in prison at Caernarfon Crown Court after pleading guilty to child sexual communication offences and witness intimidation.
The court heard that during August and September, Hughes engaged in extensive online communications via WhatsApp with what he believed were girls aged 13 and 14. The chats involved four separate decoy profiles set up by online child protection groups. The presiding judge noted that the messages sent by Hughes were aggressively and relentlessly sexual, almost from the outset, as he attempted to arrange sexual activity.
Paedophile hunters confronted Hughes at his home address, resulting in his arrest by police.
Following his release on bail, Hughes committed witness intimidation by tracking down and contacting a female decoy operator on her private Instagram account. Initially claiming to be Hughes’s brother and stating that Hughes had taken his own life, the defendant then sent messages claiming to belong to a criminal gang that carried out violent revenge attacks on decoy operators.
Appearing before Caernarfon Crown Court, Hughes pleaded guilty to:
- Attempted sexual communication with a child
- Inciting a child to engage in sexual activity
- Witness intimidation
Judge Timothy Petts sentenced Hughes to a total of five years and one month’s imprisonment. The court also made Hughes subject to an indefinite requirement on the sex offenders register and imposed a 15-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
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