IT expert asked ‘girl, 13’ to meet him for sex and ‘naughty things’
AUNIVERSITY computer expert wanted to meet a 13-yearold girl for sex and “naughty things”, a court has heard.
Steven Woltering told someone he believed to be a child that he had a “fantasy” of teaching a youngster about sex and said he would take condoms to their meeting. In fact, the defendant was communicating with an adult operating a decoy account who subsequently passed details of their interaction to the police.
Swansea Crown Court heard that when police arrested Woltering he told them his life was “ruined” but he now maintains he has memory issues about the offending.
A probation report into the 52-yearold has concluded he poses a high risk of causing harm to children unless he engages with a sex offenders’ course.
The court heard Woltering had been communicating with a decoy account purporting to be a 13-yearold girl on the Chat-Avenue application.
During the conversations the defendant asked the decoy if she was a virgin and whether she “touched” herself, told her he masturbated twice a day and she could watch him, and said he had a “fantasy” of teaching a youngster about sex.
He also asked her where she lived. When the decoy said she lived near Liverpool he began to check travel times and distances to the city.
He also asked whether the girl wanted to go for coffee and do “naughty things”, before adding that he would take condoms. Woltering later told the girl his wife was away for two weeks and he could travel to see her.
Details of the conversations were passed to police and in May 2021 officers went to Woltering’s home address.
When arrested and cautioned he said: “I have never done anything like this before – it is going to ruin my life” before pointing officers to the relevant phones and electronic devices.
The court heard that police found a total of 21 images of children being sexually abused on one of the devices, though it was not possible to say when they had been downloaded, along with evidence of internet searches having been carried out using phrases such as “young teen”.
However, much of the chatlog history of his online conversations was missing. The court heard Woltering had been working as a senior IT leader at the University of Oxford before resigning from his job.
On the day he was due to stand trial Woltering, of Tyn y Berllan, Craigcefnparc, Clydach, Swansea, admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and to three counts of making indecent images of children of categories A, B, and C.
He has no previous convictions. Despite his admissions to police upon arrest, the defendant now says he has a lack of memory of the offending
Jon Tarrant, for Woltering, said the defendant was “clearly quite a complex individual” and said a probation report had suggested his client’s issues with memory may be a form of “shield” about what is very emotive offending.
The advocate said not only was there a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in Woltering’s case but that rehabilitation would be a necessity, and he invited the court to follow the recommendations of the pre-sentence report and pass a sentence which would allow the defendant to take the Horizon sex offenders’ course.
Judge Christopher Vosper KC gave discounts for his guilty pleas, and Woltering was sentenced to nine months in prison for the inciting charge and to nine months for the possession of indecent images charges. The terms are to run consecutively, making a total sentence of 18 months, which was suspended for two years.
The defendant was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and a Horizon sex offenders’ course.