A pervert who thought he was arranging to meet "children" for sex at a campsite was actually talking to an undercover police officer.
Christopher Bailey, 62, of HMP Liverpool, initiated contact with a man on messaging app Kik after coming across his profile in a group chat on December 8, 2021. Bailey spoke about his interest in "incestuous sex", and they discussed their mutual sexual interest in children.
The man went on to say that he had three children, aged 10, seven and two. Bailey then said he had a motorhome and said he would travel to meet them. However, Manchester Crown Court heard that he was actually talking to undercover officers posing as a man and wife, reports the Manchester Evening News .
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Bailey then asked the man if his wife knew about it, and he said she "got off on it" before Bailey said he was interested in their "two girls" and his wife. He passed over his phone number and asked "how far the 10-year-old girl would go".
Prosecutor Antony Longworth said: “They discussed campsites that the defendant could stay at in his motorhome in Guilford - where the family purported to live. The conversation then moved onto WhatsApp. The defendant researched a number of campsites nearby and sent them to the man.
“They discussed their sexual excitement of watching others abuse children and the defendant sent pictures of himself and discussed where the children would be in the motorhome.” They also talked about when Bailey would drive down to meet them and if the man had any pictures of his children for him to "masturbate" to.
He went on to speak to the wife - another undercover officer - and spoke about receiving photos of the children. The officers checked that he wasn’t just speaking to them out of "fantasy", but Bailey confirmed that he "really, really wanted" to meet them. Bailey later confirmed he had booked three nights at a local campsite for £150, which would see him spend three days with the family.
He later said he was looking forward to seeing one of the child’s genitals and discussed performing sex acts upon them. Bailey was arrested and interviewed, during which he said he talked to others on Kik about sexual abuse to ‘wind people up’. He denied being sexually attracted to children and denied intending to meet the family.
However, upon his arrest, his phone and computer were seized and analysed, and showed further chats with a decoy 14-year-old girl. In the chats he said he was 60, asked if she had a boyfriend and asked if she was "horny".
He also asked if she had "done anything with a family member" and added: “most of us have” at what the prosecutor said was an attempt to "normalise" the behaviour. Bailey asked her further questions about her sexual history and told her he was into "underage".
Officers also discovered 501 category A indecent images of children - said to be the worst type, 189 category B images and 170 category C images, as well as three extreme pornographic images. They were dated between February 2008 and August 2021, indicating that Bailey had access to them over 13-and-a-half years.
He was said to have no previous convictions. Mitigating, Anthony Williams said his client said the conversations were a part of ‘perverse bravado’.
Mr Williams said: “He has expressed remorse for his actions. He is devastated by what he has done, he is sorry". He added that Bailey was employed for 26 years in doing specialised importation work, but had retired shortly before the offences were committed.
Sentencing, the Recorder of Manchester, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: “This is one of those cases which involves the exploitation of children who are in fact fictional, or who can’t be demonstrated to be children. It’s clear this was not just a fantasy, this was a reflection of your positive intent.
"At one point you were told the 10-year-old girl had non-verbal autism, and you expressed no reservation. This is without doubt amongst the most serious of cases of this nature this court has had to deal with.”
Bailey was jailed for four years and eight months, was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life, and must sign the Sex Offenders Register for life. He had earlier pleaded guilty to arranging the facilitation of child sex offences; attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child; attempting to engage in a sexual act with a child; making indecent photos and possession of extreme porn.
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