Man jailed for grooming attempt

A 45-year-old man has been jailed for more than three years for attempting to groom what he thought was an 11-year-old girl. David Taylor, of Rodwell Park in Trowbridge, made online sexual approaches to the fictional girl before arranging to meet her at a KFC restaurant in Bath in April.

However, Taylor was confronted by a self-styled paedophile hunter who had been posing as the girl. Taylor admitted attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16 following grooming and attempting to cause/incite a female child to engage in sexual activity at Swindon Crown Court on August 1.

He was sentenced on September 14 to three years and four months in prison. The court heard that police launched an investigation after a video of the confrontation was posted on Facebook.

After being arrested at his home, Taylor told police he had taken condoms with him to the meeting. Prosecutor James Haskell told the court: "It seems this person had effectively sought to emulate what is referred to as 'paedophile hunters' and that person engaged in online chat conversations with the defendant pretending to be an 11-year-old girl. The defendant engaged in conversations with that person believing it was a child under 13. He sent photographs of himself and he engaged in conversations of a sexually explicit nature."

Taylor's defense attorney, Simon Goodman, said his client was an inadequate man who had been suffering from mental health problems and had never had a proper relationship.

Taylor was jailed for 40 months for attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16 following grooming. He also received another 40-month sentence to be served concurrently for attempting to cause/incite a female child to engage in sexual activity. He denied a third count of trying to meet a child after sexual grooming, which was left to lie on the file.

Taylor was also given a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

An NSPCC spokesman for South West England said: "Taylor groomed his young victim with the sole intention of earning her trust so he could meet her, and go on to sexually abuse and exploit her. He was fully aware of her age but continued with his despicable behaviour regardless. This kind of predatory activity can ruin childhoods, with the devastating effects lasting into adulthood. Taylor must be policed effectively on his release from prison to help reduce any risk he poses to children."