Man Avoids Prison for Engaging in Sex Chat with Decoy Teenager

Christopher Seymour, 51, has narrowly avoided a prison sentence after engaging in sexually explicit conversations with what he believed was a 14-year-old boy on the social media platform Kick.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that Seymour, who had downloaded the app in June of last year, communicated with the "teenager" over a single afternoon. However, the individual on the other end was actually a member of an undercover child safety team using the username 'UK bi couple'.

Despite the decoy's profile clearly stating their age as 14, Seymour twice lied about his own age, claiming to be 36 and then 38, when he was in fact 50 at the time. Prosecutor Sophie Johnstone detailed that Seymour sent "graphic" messages and images and attempted to incite the decoy into performing a sexual act.

Johnstone stated: "The decoy confirmed to the defendant he was still at school and he could message at lunchtime." She added that investigations were conducted to identify the person behind Seymour's account via the Kick site.

Seymour, of Millais Gardens, South Shields, was arrested in November. He subsequently pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child aged 13 to 15 to view sexually explicit material, and attempting to incite a boy aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity.

Vic Laffey, Seymour's defense attorney, argued: "He got involved in this wholly inappropriate conversation and started and ended on the same day when he recognized the position he had got himself in. While accepting the seriousness of the offenses, it is significant that the offense took place over a single day in the space of five hours."

Recorder Cox KC, presiding over the case, acknowledged that an immediate prison sentence would have been the expected outcome had the conversation lasted longer than a day. However, he ultimately decided against imprisonment due to Seymour's guilty plea at the first opportunity, his lack of prior offenses of this nature, and the limited duration of the interaction.

Cox sentenced Seymour to 18 months suspended for two years, with rehabilitation requirements, and ordered him to register as a sex offender for ten years.