Cowplain man caught by undercover police officer after attempting to engage fictitious girl, 13, in sex

Pervert David Waiting, 53, was caught out after striking up conversation with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl on a dating site in October 2019.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard how the defendant targeted a profile of the undercover officer posing as a girl before the conversation descended.

‘The chat became very sexual very quickly,’ prosecutor Matthew Lawson said.

‘After the officer had identified as a 13-year-old he continued his sexual chat which became extremely graphic.

‘He asked her to look up pornography on adult sites and he invited her to (perform a sex act on herself).’

Despite going on to say they would have to wait three years for sex until the fictional girl was of age, Waiting continued to ‘repeatedly talk about sex’ and asked her to send pictures of herself.

‘At one point he asked her to go to the toilet and (perform a sex act) while she was pretending to be at school,’ Mr Lawson said.

Waiting, of Kings Road, Cowplain, also asked if other children at school would be interested in having sex with him.

The chats continued until January 2020 before police arrived at his address and seized his devices the following month.

Two indecent images of children were found - one category A and a category B picture.

Howard Barrington-Clark, defending, said Waiting had not reoffended since first admitting the offences in February 2020.

Waiting pleaded guilty to two charges of attempting to inciting a child under 16 into sex, attempting sexual communication with a child, and possessing category A and category B images of a child.

He was spared jail by judge Keith Cutler CBE, who said: ‘It was a dark period of your life and everyone is relieved that no children came to harm.

‘It came to light much to your shame and means you can begin to deal with it. It must never happen again.’

After deciding the ‘public was much better protected’ by a community order, Waiting was handed a three-year order which included a sexual offending program and 15 rehabilitation days.

He was also put on the sex offenders’ register for five years and had a sexual harm prevention order made for the same period.

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Waiting was also told to pay £400 in costs.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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