A paedophile was caught attempting to groom 13-year-old girls after savagely attacking his 66-year-old mum with her own walking stick.
Police discovered vile Facebook chats on John Skelton's mobile phone after his arrest over the serious assault, which saw the pensioner suffer a broken arm and have her had split open. In the messages, he implored the 'teenagers' to perform sexual acts and sent naked pictures of himself.
But the 46-year-old was actually being ensnared in a sting by paedophile hunters, who had set up the decoy accounts. Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Friday, that a number of devices were seized from Skelton by officers after he was detained two years ago.
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Upon analysis, it was discovered that he had been "deliberately targeting" two teens by engaging in sexual conversations over Facebook Messenger. The defendant had initiated first contact before "turning sexual".
Skelton - of no fixed address, but previously from Kensington - sent the fake profiles pictures of his penis, encouraged them to perform sex acts upon themselves and asked for indecent images of the pair. He also asked one to be his girlfriend and talked about meeting up for sex.
One of the girls told him her mum had died when she was nine. Chris Taylor, prosecuting, stated Skelton had "exploited her vulnerability".
He appeared in court via video link to HMP Frankland, where he was already serving an extended sentence of 10 years in prison - having also been handed an extra four years on licence. This was imposed in 2020 after he admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.
Skelton had breached a restraining order by moving back into his mum's home in Rock Ferry, Wirral. In May 2020, he "lost his temper" after she refused to buy him alcohol and attacked her as she lay in bed.
The walking aid was broken in half and left covered in blood, such was the ferocity of his ensuing attack. Ms Skelton suffered a "large and deep laceration to her head" as well as fractures to her rib, finger and arm.
Despite this, Skelton refused to let her call 999. She was only able to leave the address once he fell asleep, at which point a neighbour informed the police.
He has a total of 35 previous convictions for 61 offences dating back to 1988, although none are for sexual offences. Anthony O'Donohoe, defending, said: "The defendant is lumbered with an enormous amounts of difficulties.
"He has mental health difficulties and when at liberty abuses drugs and alcohol. At the time, he was going to a park daily and drinking and doing drugs with undesirable associates.
"He now recognises these persons are undesirable and are a bad influence upon him. A lot of these messages were sent when he was under the influence of alcohol. Of course, the gravity of this case lies in its intention. No actual harm occurred.
"He is already serving a significant custodial sentence for a very serious offence. All I can do is invite your honour to make the sentence as short as is commensurate with his public duty."
Skelton admitted two counts of attempting sexual communications with a child and two of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. He was handed a further two-and-a-half years behind bars, to be served consecutively to his current jail term.
Sentencing, Judge Garrett Byrne said: "Over a one-month period in 2020, you sent a large number of message to two people who you thought were young girls. They became highly sexualised in nature.
"You were told that they were 13 years old or younger. You pretended to be in your late 20s.
"These girls were fictitious, having been profiles set up by what are referred to as paedophile hunters. You have a bad record, but this is your first conviction for sexual offences.
"There is no compelling mitigation. You don't accept responsibility and seek to blame others and alcohol and drugs.
"You have denied that these offences were sexually motivated, but in my view they clearly were."
Skelton was also told to sign the sex offenders' register for life and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. Judge Byrne ordered the forfeiture of the phone, and imposed a victim surcharge.
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