'Disgusting' Portsmouth paedophile jailed after having sex chats with 'boy' only to find out it's a police officer

Dangerous Andrew Griffin, 63, has been dumped behind bars after the predator was up to his old tricks despite being given a reprieve from jail in 2018 when he was slapped with a sexual harm prevention order.

But Griffin, of Stubbington Avenue, Copnor, was jailed this time for his attempts to coerce what he thought was a 14-year-old boy into the grip of his depraved sexual desires.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard how Griffin fell foul of his previous court order when he was involved in a sordid month-long online exchange with his would-be prey in September last year.

Prosecutor Thomas Wilkins told the court: ‘The conversation rapidly became sexual. The defendant was freely engaging in sexual communication discussing a variety of sex acts after being told the boy was 14.

‘He sent pictures of his penis and a video of him (performing a sex act) and incited the boy to do the same.’

When police arrived at his address with a warrant Griffin then compounded his woes by perverting the course of justice by hiding an iPad which had the incriminating messages on – a device he had not declared to officers.

‘He said he was feeling sick and needed to go and lie down and while he was upstairs he kicked the iPad under the bed,’ Mr Wilkins said.

But suspicious police returned the following day when Griffin was out and found the device after being allowed in the house by an occupant.

Jason Halsey, defending, said Griffin felt ‘shame and disgust’ for his actions and had been ‘ostracised by family and friends’ following his previous actions.

The barrister said the offending was linked to Griffin’s struggles to ‘cope with a crisis’ and said he could be rehabilitated in the community after taking steps to help himself.

But judge, Recorder Barry McElduff, said it was his ‘public duty’ to jail Griffin after his offending.

He then locked the paedophile up for 30 months.

SEE ALSO: Police union chief suspended over sex claims

Griffin admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order, perverting the course of justice, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, and arranging the commission of a child sex offence.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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