By Paedophile hunters catch predator attempting to meet up with 13-year-old girl
A man has been jailed and placed on the sex offenders list after sending explicit images and wanting to meet up with a 13-year-old girl.
Paul Cammidge was looking for a sexual encounter with what he believed was a 13-year-old girl after sending her explicit pictures of himself.
The young girl was in fact a decoy account made to catch paedophiles in the act and alert the police.
He wanted the girl to watch pornography and suggested meeting up for sex, Hull Crown Court heard.
Cammidge, 64, of Chantry Lane, Grimsby, admitted attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child between November 29 and December 16, 2020.
Prosecuting Michele Stuart-Lofthouse told the court that Cammidge claimed he was a “silver fox”, a “wealthy older man” and a “sugar daddy” on an adult website.
He called what he believed to be a thirteen-year-old girl “delicious and beautiful” and sent her indecent pictures of himself.
He then offered to go from his then home in the York area to hers, supposedly in Halifax, and assured that that he would be discreet.
Cammidge asked her sexual questions and made suggestions such as inviting her to watch pornography. “He asked her for a naked photo and video of herself, which she declined,” the court heard. “He told her not to tell her Mum about their conversation. During the chat, he also started to delete sexually explicit parts of his conversation between them.”
Paedophile hunters went to his home and contacted the police.
Cammidge was arrested on December 17, 2020, telling police: “Oh, right. I have done it. I shouldn’t have done it. I am sorry for doing it. Can you just let me go? I should not have got sucked into this silly thing. What I have done is wrong.”
Cammidge said at the time he had been married for 37 years but their relationship lacked a sex life, claiming he got carried away during the online chats and would never have met up with a child.
Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, mitigating, said: “He fully accepts what he did. He is thoroughly ashamed of himself. He acknowledges his offending. This offending is two years ago and there has been nothing since. This defendant was not, at the outset, seeking out children.
“He retired and struggled to come to terms with his lifestyle and turned to excessive alcohol abuse. He has addressed his alcohol misuse and his addictions.”
She added: “He has a long-suffering wife of 38 years and she continues to support him,” said Miss Kioko-Gilligan. “This defendant’s behaviour was outrageous. He knows that he has made their life a living hell.”
Judge Mark Bury told Cammidge: “You were in trouble in the 70s when you were a bit of a tearaway but you have lived that down and developed a successful business and earned good money. You retired when you were in your 50s in comfortable surroundings.
“You were in the habit of contacting sex sites to chat with, and possibly meet, like-minded adults for sexual encounters. On one such site, you came across somebody masquerading first of all as a 19-year-old girl.
“You encountered her again but it was clear that she was only 13. In fact, this was a decoy. You were messaging her on WhatsApp. Some of the things that you were saying were totally repugnant. You sent her a naked picture and asked her if she wanted sexual intercourse.
“More seriously, you invited her to watch pornography, aware, as you were, that she was sexually inexperienced. All the time, you were fully aware that she was 13 and you told her not to tell her Mum. You made it clear that you could get into trouble and could go to prison if you were caught.
“It came to an end not because you voluntarily ended it but because paedophile hunters turned up mob-handed at your door and the police were called.
“There’s simply too much of this going on. In a civilised society, you simply can’t get away with being 64 and contacting a 13-year-old girl for sex. What you have done, I am afraid, is too serious to overlook. I have to look at the harm that you intended ”
Cammidge was jailed for one year and must register as a sex offender for 10 years.
