Child-sex groomer avoids jail

A GOLD Coast man who engaged in sexually explicit internet conversations with dozens of users he believed were underage girls has avoided jail.

Ashley Brian Foster, 25, pleaded guilty at Southport District Court yesterday to 44 counts of grooming a child under 16 and two counts of grooming a child under 12.

Foster was given a four-year jail sentence for the two counts of grooming a child under 12 but that term was wholly suspended for five years. He was also granted immediate parole on a three-year jail sentence for the 44 other charges.

The court was told police had seized Foster’s phone during an investigation into drug charges against him in 2014.

Further analysis of the phone revealed a series of online conversations via a messaging app.

Judge David Kent said Foster’s transition from a 22-yearold ice addict to a 25-year-old married man expecting his first child had played a role in his avoiding actual custody.