Description
A convicted sex offender sent a video of himself masturbating to someone he believed was a 12-year-old girl, but who was actually an undercover police officer.
He later instructed the decoy to delete the video and requested naked images of her.
Craig Evans, 47, of Llanelli, initiated contact with the decoy on the Kik messenger app in October last year. The decoy immediately stated she was 12, but Evans asked if she had a boyfriend and had done "naked stuff." At Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday, the hearing revealed he told her he was "horny and hard" and asked for a photo. After receiving a "selfie," he replied: "Stunning, how about naked?"
Evans sent photos of himself and his dog, then said he was "sitting on the bed naked and watching pornography." He asked if she had "seen a penis before," sent the masturbation video, and urged deletion.
Police arrested him at home on October 31. In his interview, Evans claimed he doubted the decoy was real due to Kik's age verifications, thought it was "role playing," and believed it was a vigilante group, asking questions to "catch them out."
Evans, of Dolau Fawr, pleaded guilty to attempting sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch sexual activity. The court noted his prior conviction for sending a genital photo to an elderly woman to cause alarm, distress, and humiliation.
In mitigation, David Singh described the interaction as "limited" with a gap in offending, noting Evans' deteriorated mental health and lack of appointments until custody.
Judge Paul Hobson cited "warped thinking" in Evans' sexual behavior. He was sentenced to 70 weeks' imprisonment, plus 10 years of sex offender notification and a sexual harm prevention order.