A paedophile who offered a 14-year-old ‘girl’ money and clothes and asked to meet at a hotel room claimed he knew he was being duped by a paedophile hunter group.
Andrew Ratchford of Gainford Road, Knotty Ash, was found guilty after a four day trial of one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and one count of attempting to incite a child to engage in a sexual act. During the trial in January this year, the 43-year-old claimed he knew he was talking to a fake profile, and engaged with the online profile of a 14-year-old ‘girl’ named Kiera because he wanted to “get back at” the police and paedophile hunter groups.
At the beginning of the sentence hearing on Thursday at Liverpool Crown Court, when asked to stand and confirm his name by the court clerk, Ratchford shook his head and said “sore back”. Once the hearing got underway, Martyn Walsh, prosecuting, detailed that an online paedophile hunter group named Elite Hunters set up a decoy account of a 14-year-old girl at the end of 2020.
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Ratchford engaged with the account, began communication and the messages quickly became sexually explicit. They included grooming of the decoy because though the messages started with general chat, Ratchford soon offered the ‘girl’ money and said he would buy her clothes.
The messages continued in a sexual nature and he asked her to get a hotel room with him.
Mr Walsh said: “These went beyond the usual sexual content that this court often sees.” Ratchford asked the ‘girl’ to commit sexual acts on herself and send pictures of herself doing so, and sent her an image of himself naked in the shower.
Members of the paedophile hunter group went to Ratchford’s home at the same time as they called the police, and live streamed his arrest.
During the trial, he told the jury that he was “well aware” they were a paedophile hunter group, and he was “winding them up”. Ratchford was found unanimously guilty by a jury of 12.
He has previous convictions for driving offences, burglary, and common assault, but none of a sexual nature. Fiona McNiell, defending, said: “There is not a great deal I can say with respect to his defendant.
“He sticks to the claim that he was tricking them.” However she did say that he has now sought some help for his mental health issues, and previously served in the army.
It was also detailed that probation services assessed Ratchford as a high risk of harm to children, specifically young girls, and he shook his head at this. Ms McNeill said: “It’s not something that came as a surprise to me but it is something that he does not accept.”
In sentencing, Recorder Tania Griffiths KC said: “You attempted to groom her, quickly gaining her confidence. “You have shown no remorse or acknowledgement for your behaviour or the harm that would have been caused if this had been a real girl.”
Ratchford was sentenced to four years imprisonment and a sexual harm prevention order was implemented for ten years. Notification requirements are also in place indefinitely.
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