Police sting catches youth cricket coach who groomed girls Jail for paedophile who ran Midland teams
AYOUTH cricket coach who groomed girls online has been jailed after being caught in a covert sting run by West Midlands Police.
Gary King, whose firm organised cricket tours and festivals for junior girls’ teams, adopted fake instant messenger profiles in a bid to start explicit conversations with schoolgirls.
One of the girls King was trying to groom was actually a covert police officer who was working with a West Midlands team that tries to snare paedophiles who are targeting children online.
The 56-year-old unknowingly started explicit conversations with covert cyber-police on social media last September and again in March this year.
The former Worcestershire youth cricket coach then tried to flee to his Spanish holiday home but police arrested him at Stansted Airport before he could board his flight.
King’s laptop revealed evidence of sexual online chats with an unidentified 14-year-old girl which ran for seven days in 2017.
And a USB stick seized from his home was also found to contain indecent images of girls which he had downloaded from the internet.
In a police interview, King, from Creed Road in Oundle, Northamptonshire, admitted the offences but claimed it was “fantasy role play” and that he had no intention of meeting the girls.
He admitted a total of six counts of attempting to incite a child to commit sexual activity with penetration, plus another of making indecent images of children.
He was jailed for 16 months and was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years for child online grooming offences at Birmingham Crown Court on November 6.
Detective Inspector Nicki Addison, from West Midlands Police’s specialist Child Sexual Exploitation team, said: “King thought he was grooming a girl but in fact it was a covert officer posing as a child to gather evidence against him.
“He deceived vulnerable girls online. Youngsters can be badly scarred psychologically and emotionally through online exchanges with predators like King even if they have not been physically harmed. And offenders need to accept they are likely to be jailed.
“We are working to identify cricket team members King has been in contact with or tours he has arranged. We will be following up those enquiries to see if any children have been affected.
“If any child believes they have been targeted by King – or if any parents suspect their children may have been contacted by him – I’d urge them to call us.”