Paedophile from Manea sent explicit messages to 'young boy'

A paedophile from a Fenland village has been jailed for two years after he sent explicit messages to who he believed was a young boy.

Simon Martin, 40, began sending messages to a person he believed was a 12-year-old boy on December 27 last year but he was in fact communicating with an Online Child Abuse Activist Group (OCAG).

Cambridge Crown Court heard how over the following month he became increasingly intimate, explaining how sex works and sending explicit images and videos of himself despite knowing his “age”.

Martin also encouraged the boy to touch himself inappropriately and send explicit images before asking him how far away he lived so he could meet him.

He was arrested on February 13 after a separate group confronted him at his home in Jolley Close, Manea, and called police.

On Friday (July 12) he was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) after pleading guilty to inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity and attempt to engage in sexual communication with a child.

DC Chris Smith said: “Martin believed he was communicating with a 12-year-old boy yet continued to speak to him inappropriately.

“His sentence is a clear reflection of the serious risk he posed to children.”