Wiltshire Man Escapes Prison Sentence After Paedophile Hunter Encounters

A Wiltshire man, Michael Wadley, 69, has escaped a prison sentence after being caught by paedophile hunters on two separate occasions. Wadley spent over four months behind bars on remand before being sentenced at Salisbury Crown Court on Monday, June 26th.

In December 2021, Wadley contacted what he believed to be a 14-year-old girl online, requesting naked photographs and stating he wanted to print them and put them on his wall. He also sent the girl a photograph of a penis and encouraged her to masturbate. Unbeknownst to Wadley, he was communicating with paedophile hunters posing as the girl.

The paedophile hunters confronted Wadley at his home in Bancroft, Bradford on Avon, and streamed the encounter live. Police attended the scene and arrested Wadley. He was released on bail before being charged in late 2022. Wadley pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and making four indecent images of children, three of which were in the most serious category.

While out on bail awaiting sentencing, a different group of paedophile hunters confronted Wadley again, claiming he had been communicating with a child online. He was arrested for breaching his bail conditions and remanded into custody. During his time in custody, Wadley's health deteriorated, delaying his sentencing hearing multiple times.

At his sentencing hearing, Recorder Neil Millard acknowledged Wadley's four-month custodial sentence, which he deemed equivalent to an eight-month sentence. Taking this into account, Millard imposed a 15-month prison sentence suspended for two years. He also imposed a ten-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) on Wadley.

The SHPO prohibits Wadley from having unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16, excluding one named individual. He is also banned from wiping his internet history and must seek prior approval from the police before using the internet, including social media. Wadley must provide the police with his usernames and passwords.