The Offender Database reported that Philip Thurston, the Cambridge Paedophile Sex Offender, has been incarcerated for grooming a 13-year-old girl online and transporting her in a vehicle.
Philip Thurston, 34, of Laburnum Close, Cambridge, initially contacted the minor on Instagram in June 2023, soliciting her Snapchat information.
Notwithstanding her age, Philip Thurston arranged to collect her near her residence. Initially, the girl refused to enter his vehicle; nevertheless, days later, he returned and transported her to Cambourne and subsequently to a McDonald’s in Caxton, where he paid for her meal.
Over the course of two weeks of online communication, Philip Thurston transmitted sexualised messages, indicating that if the victim were older, he would pursue a romantic relationship with her and articulating his desires for her.
However, the victim observed that he seemed taciturn and reticent in person.
At approximately 7:50 PM on June 28, the victim informed her parents that she was going out for a drive with a 17-year-old male named Fabio.
Her stepfather grew suspicious and followed her to a nearby bus station, where Philip Thurston awaited in his vehicle. He successfully captured an image of the vehicle and followed it around Cambridge before losing sight of it.
While driving, Philip Thurston admitted to the victim that he was 32, not in his late teens. He became angry when he noticed they were being followed by the victim’s stepdad and asked if she was “setting him up”.
He added, “Your stepdad is lucky he didn’t catch me” before taking her home.
Philip Thurston was arrested, and in a police interview, he admitted meeting the victim and said he thought she was 14.
He insisted he was “not a bad person” and said he didn’t realise picking up a child was illegal, claiming he just wanted to “help people” as she wanted to be taken out.
Philip Thurston pleaded guilty to taking a child to remove him/her from a person having lawful control, at a hearing in January this year.
On Monday (17 November), at Cambridge Crown Court, he was sentenced to two years and three months in prison and handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
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