A 55-year-old man has admitted sending intimate photos to what he thought was a 12-year-old girl.
Andrew John Shimmin, of Viking Road, Douglas, was caught after a ’sting’ by an online paedophile hunter group on Facebook who were posing as the girl.
Shimmin told ’her’ she was ’gorgeous’ and said he would like to kiss her after sending three pictures of his penis.
He will be sentenced on December 15 but the court heard that he cannot be sent to jail for the offence.
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Prosecuting advocate Rachael Braidwood told the court that a fake profile for the 12-year-old in the false name of Taylor Dean was set up on Facebook by Elite Solo Decoys, a group who aim to identify people who are sexual predators.
Fake profiles for children are set up and left dormant until someone makes contact.
Someone in the group then pretends to be the child.
On August 10, Shimmin made contact with the fake profile and started a Facebook Messenger chat.
He asked how old the girl was and she replied 12.
Shimmin replied saying: ’Blimey I didn’t know you were that young.’
During the Facebook conversation, he asked the ’girl’ to send him photographs and sent his to her.
The messages were shared publicly on Facebook by the paedophile hunter group and police arrested Shimmin on August 18.
seized
Devices at his home were seized and analysed.
His living room was identified as the location where the penis photos had been taken and his phone showed a history of the Facebook conversation.
When interviewed, Shimmin told police he lived with his wife but they were not together.
He said that he befriended women on Facebook but spoke only to adults and swapped photos with them.
He claimed he could not recall speaking to a 12-year-old and when shown a photo of her said she ’looked about 13’.
Shimmin told police that he had been feeling lonely and was seeking attention but claimed he had not got any sexual gratification from the incident.
The court heard that he has no previous convictions.
Shimmin pleaded guilty to an offence of sending an indecent message by telecommunications.
High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said that the offence was non-imprisonable.
Bail was granted in the sum of £500 with conditions that Shimmin live at his home address and not leave the island without court consent.