Back in 2023, Neil Doherty, the St Asaph Paedophile, who attempted to engage in sexual contact with minors he believed to be 12 and 13 years old, was sentenced to six years in prison today. Neil Doherty was, in fact, engaging in internet communication with undercover law enforcement officers.
The defendant from Lothians Park, St Asaph, disputed seven charges but was found guilty following a trial. Caernarfon Crown Court was informed that the offences occurred between January 17, 2021, and May 28, 2021.
Prosecutor Nicolas Williams stated that the offences pertain to Neil Doherty’s communication with police decoys, whom he thought to be 12 and 13-year-old females, and his arrangement to meet two of them for sexual purposes. The particulars of the offences were not delineated in court today.
The court was informed that he possesses a criminal record, which includes a conviction for robbery in 1985, resulting in a five-year imprisonment. Anna Price, in defence, stated that it is a lamentable case, as her client had prior convictions, but none pertain to sexual offences until this instance.
She said: “Fortunately, there were no children – these were attempts rather than the full offence. It’s not a case where the defendant has been apprehended en route to meeting a child.”
She added that Neil Doherty has alcohol issues and heart and back problems. The judge, Mr Recorder Wyn Lloyd Jones, told the defendant: “It saddens me to have to sentence someone of your age for so many offences of a serious nature.”
He said Neil Doherty claimed he believed he was messaging an adult in “role play”. But the judge said: “I am entirely satisfied that you committed these offences for your own selfish sexual gratification.
“You believed you were communicating with young girls. (But) The people you were actually communicating with were police undercover operatives.
“If there had been real children, you would have been grooming real children – and really vulnerable children.” The judge noted Neil Doherty’s relationship with his partner had broken down.
He had been feeling low at the time of the offences and was drinking nine to ten pints a day. He lives with his elderly mother, 87, and is a father and grandfather.
His family probably think a great deal of him, and the proceedings must be hard for them. He jailed Neil Doherty for six years for two counts of attempting to incite a female under 13 to engage in sexual activit,y which was penetrative.
Neil Doherty faced three counts of attempting to cause a female under 16 to engage in sexual communication and was given four, nine and four months concurrent sentences, respectively. And he was sentenced to four years imprisonment for two counts of arranging to meet a child for a child sex offence, also to run concurrently to the main sentence.
The judge also gave the defendant a sexual harm prevention order to last indefinitely. His phone, which was used for the offences, will be forfeited and destroyed.
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