Kentish Express Ashford & District
Back in jail for having indecent images of child
Pervert convinced girl, 14, in chat room he was teenage boy
A man who convinced a 14-yearold girl to send him indecent pictures of herself has been sentenced to more than four years in prison.
Nicholas Axon, 64, of Canterbury Road, Charing, pretended to be a 17-year-old boy when he sent messages to a girl in the West Midlands.
The pair exchanged phone numbers after meeting on a social networking site and continued to communicate, with Axon encouraging the girl to send indecent images of herself.
Their conversations were discovered however when the girl’s father accidentally found an audio message from Axon on her phone while transferring data.
He reported the incident to his local police force, who informed Kent Police.
Axon was arrested for breaching a sexual offences prevention order, which was granted in 2010.
When arrested, he told officers: “I didn’t want to go inside again. I’ll go inside for this, even though I didn’t know their age.”
He was charged with possessing indecent images of children and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, as well as breaching the sexual offences prevention order.
During his trial at Canterbury Crown Court last Friday, his barrister Janet Weeks said Axon had genuine remorse for what had happened.
“It started with his making contact with adults and young people through social media because of his loneliness but quickly descended in this way after he posed as a younger man,” she said.
“He feels that he has exploited them and this will never happen again.
He was released from jail before he had been on the sex offenders’ programme and he is anxious to do this.
“He had no intention of meeting any of the girls and deliberately chose these places for their geographic location.”
Miss Weeks added that Axon had been working in the prison library.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Monday to four years and four months in prison.
Det Sgt David Shipley, from the child exploitation investigation team, said: “I would encourage parents to speak to their children about safe use of the internet, and the dangers of speaking to people they don’t know online.
“I’m pleased that in this case we have been able to send Axon back to prison for breaching an order that was already in place, and for preying on a 14-year-old girl who believed she was speaking to a teenage boy.”