Man sent to jail for messaging what he thought was girl, 13
A MAN who thought he was messaging a 13-year-old girl with sex chat has been sentenced to three years in prison after he was caught out by paedophile hunters.
Darrin Bellingham, 36, pictured, was told in the Royal Court yesterday that his messages had been ‘sickening’.
‘You continue to impact your family, and that impact is a consequence of your behaviour,’ said Judge Catherine Fooks.
‘These are serious offences and there is no doubt that the custody threshold has been crossed. Your offending has to be punished, the public protected and this kind of behaviour deterred.’
Bellingham initially admitted attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity, attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity and sending indecent messages.
A trial in the Royal Court later found him guilty of arranging or facilitating of a child sex offence, and attempting to groom a child for sexual conduct.
Bellingham had been messaging 13-year-old ‘Abbie from Essex’ on Kik and WhatsApp. It turned out to be a decoy account with a group hunting child predators behind it.
Abbie mentioned multiple times her age and her being at school, but Bellingham encouraged her to take pictures up her school skirt to send to him.
He sent her videos of him masturbating and once video-called her, telling her to join in.
The conversation moved to WhatsApp, with Bellingham using his personal number, and he asked for a location near Abbie’s home so he could find a hotel and visit her for sex.
No date or time was arranged and no booking was ever made.
Judge Fooks said that mitigating factors included that there was no actual child and the offence was in the early stages of arranging to meet.
She said that Bellingham’s family circumstances were taken into consideration when sentencing, and he had been assessed as being a low risk of general reoffending and medium risk of sexual reoffending.
The charge for arranging or facilitating a child sex offence was deemed the lead offence and the most serious, as Bellingham’s intention was to have penetrative sex with a child.
For this he was sentenced to three years in prison.
He was sentenced to 18 months for causing a child to watch sexual activity, 18 months for attempting to groom a child for sexual conduct, two years for attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, and six months for sending indecent messages, all sentences to be served concurrently to the main offence.
Bellingham also has an extended sentence licence of two years for each offence to be served concurrently and a five-year notification period.
