Child sex abuse uncovered in Commercial Road police probe

Kristof Fairley, 30, bombarded a teenage girl with 2,000 messages, grooming her before starting a sexual relationship.

Police carrying out a wider enquiry into ‘vulnerable’ children spotted in Commercial Road, investigated Fairley in October 2016.

Police commander Superintendent Jason Kenny said: ‘The investigation, known as Operation Matrix, centred on girls who gathered at a regular hotspot in Commercial Road, and it was established that Fairley, a known sex offender, had been seen in the company of these girls.’

Portsmouth Crown Court heard he thought the girl, who sent him 1,300 messages, was ‘mature for her age’.

Now he has been jailed for six years with a five-year extended licence by a judge who branded him ‘dangerous’.

Fairley wept in court as Timothy Moores, prosecuting, told how Fairley was previously jailed in 2014 for causing death by dangerous driving of his newlywed wife Ashley, aged 20, while ‘showing off’.

He was jailed for 40 months for the Eastern Road crash.

Mr Moores, prosecuting, said Fairley had breached a sex offences prevention order handed to him after abusing a 13-year-old girl in 2010. Mr Moores said: ‘They revealed that Mr Fairley and (the girl) and not only been in regular contact over the phone but had clearly been meeting up on a regular basis as well.’

Fairley, of Waverley Road, Southsea, asked her to send him an explicit image of her.

Judge Douglas Field said: ‘I find you do have a deep-seated sexual interest in children.’

He said Fairley posed a high-risk of serious harm to children.

David Reid, for Fairley, said his client was a ‘selfish person’ but he will now face his own shortcomings. Fairley admitted two charges of breaching the SOPO, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and a charge of sexual activity with a child.

He must sign the sex offenders’ register and is subject to a SOPO indefinitely.