Paedophile father-of-three unmasked by online vigilantes but released without charge is jailed for three years after again messaging ’12-year-old girl’
- Paul Spence sent explicit messages to an investigator posing as a girl aged 11
- He was released under investigation after claiming the messages were a joke
- Seven months later the same group caught Spence again after he messaged girl
- Admitted 12 charges including attempts to incite child under 13 to engage in sexual activity
Paul Spence has been jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty to 12 charges including attempts to incite a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity
A father-of-three who avoided jail when he tried to meet young girls for sex has now been sent to prison after being caught messaging children for a second time.
Paul Spence was detained by volunteers in a citizen’s arrest then arrested by police after he sent explicit WhatsApp messages to an investigator posing as an 11-year-old girl.
But the 47-year-old from New Moston, Manchester, was released under investigation after claiming his messages were a ‘joke’.
The same group, Child Online Safety Team (COST), caught Spence again seven months later when he began communicating with a volunteer pretending to be a 12-year-old girl.
In a series of messages Spence arranged a meeting in Manchester and said: ‘Do you have a boyfriend? Have you ever kissed anybody? I could teach you how to kiss. Do you want me to wash your back. Do you want me to see your breasts.’
Spence was detained by volunteers in a citizen’s arrest then arrested by police after he sent explicit WhatsApp messages to an investigator posing as an 11-year-old girl
He was then confronted for a second time at his home in New Moston, Manchester by the same group who streamed the encounter on social media.
Spence was jailed for three years at Manchester Crown Court, after he pleaded guilty to 12 charges including attempts to incite a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Spence first came to the attention of the vigilante group in November 2017 when he logged onto the social media network Qeep and began communicating with what he thought was an 11-year old girl.
Prosecutor Jonathan Savage told the court Spence encourage the ‘girl’ to send explicit photos, warned her not to tell anyone and threatened her, saying ‘if you loved me you’d send them.’
He said: ‘In the first contact with this person he said: ‘Do you like older men?’ to which she responded: ‘I don’t know I’m only 11.’
‘He said: “You’ve got good t**s for 11”. They switched to WhatsApp and the defendant asked if she wanted him to be her secret boyfriend and said: ‘If you were older you would want me to f*** you.’
Mr Savage added: ‘He asked her to send him a picture of herself and suggested whatever was said was deleted. When asked what photographs he wanted he said: ‘your young t**s.’
The communication stopped and the paedophile hunters were unable to locate Spence but the following year he began unwittingly messaging another investigator posing as a girl aged 12. During the exchanges he asked to be her ‘secret boyfriend’ offered to wash her back and said it was a ‘shame she wasn’t old enough to join him in the bath.’
He also contacted a third decoy through a social media site saying: ‘Are you going to keep me a secret, do you like me being your secret, guess you’re starting to fancy me? What would we do if we were together? I can teach you how to kiss.’
He also asked her to send a picture telling her she was ‘hot for 14’ and added: ‘I want to be with you but you have to keep it a secret. Do you want me to touch your young body?’ He then suggest a meeting in Manchester where he suggested he would ‘pop her cherry.’
In October last year The group managed to track down his location and rang 999 before confronting him at his home where was recorded saying: ‘This is against my rights.’
Mr Savage said: ‘The defendant was taken into custody and in relation to the first profile from November 2017 he said he had no intention of meeting the child and gained no sexual gratification from the contact.
‘He apologised if he had done anything wrong and he said that he was not being serious and was having a joke about it. He suggested he was always polite and cooperative with those he was communicating with. He said the reference to him being a secret older boyfriend was a joke.
‘When asked about the 12-year old he couldn’t initially recall that until it was put to him and he replied: ‘I’ll put my hands up to that one.’He was released by the police pending investigation.’
The group began investigating Spence again in March this year after got in contact with a fourth decoy aged 12 within 24 hours of her fake profile being set up in the name of ‘Lucy.’ On March 19 the paedophile hunters confronted him again but he said he had destroyed the sim card on his mobile phone.
He was re-arrested by police but said the invite to meet ‘Lucy’ in Manchester was a joke but admitted the ‘washing her back’ comments. When asked if he thought this was inappropriate he said he had ‘always been polite and never aggressive.’
In mitigation for Spence defence lawyer Shirlie Duckworth said Spense acknowledged he had a sexual interest in children of an early age.
Sentencing Judge David Stockdale QC told Spence: ‘All the offences involved decoy profiles set up online by so-called paedophile hunters and as a result of this you were apprehended.
‘The ages of the decoy profile girls ranged from 11 – 14 years and it is a feature of the case which even when you knew the matter was under investigation by the police, your attempts to pursue young girls continued.
‘I bear in mind throughout that these were attempts to commit the offences however this was repeated offending over a lengthy period of time.’
Spence was also ordered to abide by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for an indefinite period.