Groomer who said 13 is ‘perfect girlfriend age’ kept government role
A GOVERNMENT adviser caught trying to groom 13-year- old girls continued working on overseas aid projects after his arrest.
Oxford graduate Dr Peter Davis, 52, admitted trawling internet chatrooms and telling users that ‘13 would be the perfect girlfriend age’.
He was caught by undercover police officers posing as teenagers after he suggested getting one girl a ring so she could ‘pretend to be his teen wife’.
The Department for International Development has now admitted that Davis, who told police he had been ‘very silly’, had continued to work with them after his arrest.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of trying to engage in sexual communication with a child but walked free from Oxford Crown Court last week. Judge Ian Pringle gave him a two-year community order, saying that Davis’s character references were ‘compelling’ . The judge added that he had to weigh up the lack of previous offences against the explicit content of the messages.
Defence barrister Michael Phillips also claimed Davis should be shown mercy because he risked his life to work overseas.
Prosecutor Alex Bull said the first online exchange with an undercover officer using the name ‘Livvy’ was in May 2017 on the site ChatAvenue.com when Davis said he was looking for a girlfriend. ‘Livvy’ said she was only 13 and asked if that was too young and he replied: ‘Not at all, 13 would be the perfect girlfriend age.’
He asked her to share pictures of herself and shared images he claimed were of himself but were from the web.
Davis exchanged more messages with another officer using the name ‘ Chelsea’ in October 2017 when he asked for ‘naughty pics’. He also suggested getting a ring so she could ‘pretend to be his teen wife’ and he could get a cottage for them to meet in.
Davis, who lives with his girlfriend in Fritwell, Oxfordshire, will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years and will have to do 180 hours of unpaid work. He changed his name by deed poll in January to James Harris to try to keep his crimes secret.
Last night a DfID spokesman confirmed Davis had worked as a consultant after his arrest. But he was a sub-contractor and civil servants had not been told of the situation, he said. An inquiry has begun.