Pervert jailed for approach to schoolboy
BUS station pervert Patrick Livingstone propositioned a schoolboy while on bail for trying to meet an underage lad he had befriended on Facebook.
The 49-year-old was lurking around the concourse on a Sunday morning and approached the 15-year-old as he waited for friends, despite having the other case hanging over him.
After he had asked the teenager to engage in sexual activity, a police officer noticed the boy looking extremely uncomfortable and intervened. A court heard Livingstone had already tried to meet a 14-year-old boy he befriended online after sending him a series of messages.
Now he has been jailed for 20 months and was banned from the bus station unless he has a valid ticket to prove he plans to travel on the day in question.
Judge Stephen Earl told him: “You are prohibited from entering the concourse of Sunderland bus station other than for the specific purpose of bus travel and when you are in lawful possession of a ticket or pass, valid for the day in question and your intended journey.”
Livingstone pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity in relation to his approach at the bus station.
The court heard the other victim reported his online behaviour and Livingstone initially claimed it had been a “joke” but he later pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming. As well as the prison sentence, Livingstone, of Corporation Road, Sunderland, must sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and was given a lifelong sexual harm prevention order. Mark Styles, defending, said Livingstone is a “lonely and isolated” man who has mental health difficulties and has struggled after the death of his mother. Mr Styles added: “He understands he has to keep away from any sort of contact with boys.
“It is doing no good at all handing around in public places. Lurking about in Sunderland bus station on a Sunday morning is not something which has been carefully thought through. He has acted on impulse on both occasions.”
Mr Styles said Livingstone has been “bullied” by other prisoners while in custody on remand.