Man tried to ‘corrupt’ ‘girl’ who was decoy

AMAN tried to ‘corrupt’ a ‘14-year-old girl’ who he later discovered to be a ‘decoy’, a court heard.

Daniel Taylor, 24, began sending sexualised messages to the ‘girl’, who was actually a member of a ‘paedophile hunter’ group.

The online account Taylor was engaging with was in fact being run by an adult female.

Minshull Street Crown Court heard he sent messages to the ‘girl’ between April and May last year, for about three or four weeks

The chat on Facebook and WhatsApp began as ‘innocuous’ between Taylor and the ‘girl’, who stated on the profile that she was 14.

In some of the messages, Taylor, from Rochdale, said he wanted to visit the ‘girl’ and have sex with her.

He also suggested he would have sex with her while she was drunk, prosecutor Charlotte Crangle said.

In some of her replies, the ‘girl’ reminded Taylor of her age.

Taylor sent naked pictures of himself, and he asked for the ‘girl’ to return the favour.

The court heard that the ‘girl’ said her ‘camera was broken’ as an excuse not to.

He sent her a video of an adult woman performing a sex act on herself, to demonstrate how she could do it, prosecutors said.

Taylor also sent a video of him performing a sex act upon himself.

In May last year Taylor was approached by members of the group at his workplace.

He later admitted his offending to the police, but said he had ‘no intention’ of actually meeting up with the girl.

Defending, Dan Gaskell said Taylor committed the offences when he was at a ‘particularly low ebb’, and that they showed evidence of his ‘immaturity’.

Judge Tina Landale sentenced Taylor to a three year community order, during which he will be ‘actively monitored’ by the probation service.

She said Taylor had since done what he could to ‘put things right’ by admitting his wrongdoing.

The judge told Taylor: “The harm that you intended was that she should become sexualised, because, as far as you were aware, this was a girl who had no involvement or previous experience of sex at all.

“You were seeking to corrupt her, even though you thought she was a girl.

“That is the serious part of your offences.

“Fortunately you didn’t corrupt anybody.”

Taylor, of Yorkshire Street, Rochdale, was also ordered to complete 100 hours unpaid work, and 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.