Craig Butcher 43

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A man who spoke sexually online with a teenage girl that was actually an undercover police officer has been sent to prison for more than two years. Craig Butcher, 43, showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down on him at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday (31 January).

Prosecutor Matthew Paul said Butcher used an online chatroom to talk to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl called Brooke but was actually an undercover cop. Judge Chris Morgan told Butcher he was satisfied that the offending “only came to an end because of your arrest”.

Butcher, who has no previous convictions and was supported in court by his fiancee, was said to have told ‘Brooke’ that his name was Simon and he was “there looking for actual sex rather than sexual chat”.

The court was told Butcher had messaged ‘Brooke’ daily between January 1 and March 12. It was also said that ‘Brooke’ had told Butcher they were a 14-year-old girl multiple times and that some conversations discussed oral sex, masturbation and sexual images.

On one occasion Butcher, of Moor Park Gardens in Leigh-on-Sea, sent a photograph of his erect penis concealed within a pair of shorts. He later told police that it was a sock when questioned about it.

The pair’s conversations paused before resuming with a suggestion that they would meet together in April. This brief plan was stopped by Butcher’s arrest by police officers.

It was said that Butcher had received a promotion at his former job and subsequently became stressed under the increased work hours and responsibilities. Butcher’s barrister, Cyrus Shroff, said the engaged offender “would be home alone, struggling mentally and crying on his way to work”. Mr Shroff added: “In those moments he began to reach out online to talk [to others] as an escape from life”.

The defence barrister told Judge Morgan there is “a realistic prospect of rehabilitation” for Butcher and suggested that a suspended sentence could be considered. But the Judge decided the public needed to be protected and sentenced him to 27 months of imprisonment for attempting to cause/incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity and ten months for attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child. The sentences would run concurrently, resulting in a 27-month prison sentence alongside a ten-year Sexual Health Prevention Order and a ten-year notification status.

“I realise that this will have an effect on others who are entirely innocent and on you as it’s your first custodial sentence,” the Judge said. “But I have to balance that against the need to protect the public.”

“Whatever was going on, you simply desired to make contact with a child under the age of 16 in order to discuss and understand the prospect of having sex with them,” they added. “You know that what you were doing was against the law. You were making arrangements and asking if the child would meet you.

“You agreed to meet although no formal arrangements were in place. Had you not been arrested it’s plain to me that these arrangements would have been put in place.”

Butcher will serve half of his sentence in custody and the remainder on licence.