Paedophile hunters tip off the police about Sark guest worker
A GUEST worker has been convicted and sent to Guernsey Prison after paedophile hunters tipped off local police about his suspicious activity online.
Al-Khan Mohammad, 37, was jailed for 12 months and faces being deported when released.
He admitted attempting to communicate with a child for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification when he appeared from custody in the Ordinary Division of the Royal Court.
Crown Advocate Fiona Russell explained to the court how Guernsey Police had been contacted by Stop UK, an organisation which creates fake online profiles on social media in an effort to detect those who seek out children for sexual purposes.
Mohammad had communicated with someone who he believed was a 14-year-old boy from Nottingham but was actually a decoy profile set up and run by the paedophile hunters.
He provided his full name to the decoy, who he thought was the teenage boy, and told him he was working at a hotel in Sark. Mohammad asked the ‘boy’ if he had a boyfriend and invited him to visit the island.
He also asked him to send ‘a hot photo’ before sending photographs of himself to the ‘boy’.
The correspondence online was handed to Guernsey Police, who went to Sark to arrest Mohammad.
Two mobile phones, a laptop computer and a Sim card were seized for forensic examination, though no evidence was found on them.
Advocate Samuel Steel, defending Mohammad, said his client accepted the facts set out by the prosecution and conceded he had been reckless.
He said he was ashamed of what he had done.
The court was told that Mohammad had a good education and had obtained a history degree at university in his native Philippines before working in hospitality in Dubai. As a result of his actions, he had lost his job and would now be excluded from working locally. He intended to return to the Philippines and work in a school canteen when he was released from custody. He had no previous convictions.
Lt-Bailiff Gary Perry said this sort of offence was a plague across the world and that courts in every jurisdiction had a duty to pass deterrent sentences to demonstrate their abhorrence of it.
In addition to his year-long jail sentence, the court will make a recommendation to the Lt-Governor that Mohammad should be deported upon his release.
Notification requirements were imposed for five years.
