Paedophile John Ball jailed for 14 months after sending explicit messages to undercover police officers

John Ball, a 30-year-old from Llandudno, has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for attempting to engage in sexual communication with children online.

Ball thought he was communicating with two 12-year-old girls on an online platform called RandoChat, but in reality, they were undercover police officers. He made sexual comments, sent explicit photographs and videos, and engaged in conversations about sexual acts.

The first incident occurred in May last year, when Ball was arrested for making sexual comments to a girl he thought was named Amelia. He gave no comment answers during the investigation and was released under investigation.

However, in October last year, police received another report of Ball's online conversations with a 12-year-old girl named Lara, who was also an undercover officer. He made numerous references to sexual acts, prompting his second arrest.

Ball admitted two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and one count of attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch or look at an image of a sexual act. His lawyer, Sarah Yates, argued that there were no actual children involved and that Ball's early guilty pleas should be taken into account.

However, Judge Timothy Petts told Ball that his behavior was "grossly inappropriate" and that re-offending after being warned about his actions was "very worrying".