He thought he was talking to a 13-year-old girl
An online pervert exchanged highly sexualised messages with a decoy 13-year-old girl and, when she told him that she was at school, he joked: “I hope you have this app on silent lol.” Gavin Hillerby sent an explicit video of himself to the girl for “sexual titillation” but he got a nasty shock when he suddenly discovered that the teenager was really an undercover police officer, Hull Crown Court heard.
Hillerby, 53, of The Willows, Hornsea, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity, three offences of making indecent images of children and others of possessing prohibited images and possessing extreme pornographic images, between June 6 and 16, 2023.
Connor Stuart, prosecuting, said that police set up a profile of a decoy 13-year-old girl and Hillerby began communicating with her. He began asking for pictures of her, asked her about her underwear and asked to see her in swimming costumes.
Hillerby asked for sexually explicit photographs. “He wanted more,” said Mr Stuart. After the fake girl told Hillerby that she was supposedly at school, he told her: “I hope you have this app on silent lol.”
He later sent topless pictures of himself and of him in his underwear and he continued to send sexually explicit pictures. He sent an explicit video of himself.
Hillerby was identified through online account information, including his date of birth and his IP address. He was arrested on October 14, 2023. He told police: “Yeah, I’ll hold my hands up to it. I have been talking to someone online.”
Police found two indecent images of children in the most serious Category A, 22 in Category B and 10 in Category C as well as 187 prohibited images, including cartoons, and 62 extreme pornographic images of bestiality. Online search terms used by him included “kiddie”.
Hillerby told police during interview that he sent messages to the girl’s account for “sexual titillation” and he made full admissions. He had no previous convictions.
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Natalie Dean, mitigating, said that Hillerby pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. “There has been no offending between then and now,” said Miss Dean.
“He didn’t go at any point to the stage of asking the decoy to meet him. There is no suggestion that he was going to take it from inside the internet to the outside world.
“His risk can be managed in the community. There is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation. He will absolutely welcome any support that the probation service can offer.
“He lost his job, not surprisingly, as the result of this offending but he is hoping to get back to factory work. He very much regrets his actions and he would really appreciate any help that can be given.”
Father-of-three Hillerby was given a two-year suspended prison sentence, 200 hours’ unpaid work, 10 days’ rehabilitation and a sex offender treatment programme. He was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and he must register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Judge Alexander Menary warned Hillerby that he faced being jailed – and going through the “back door” of the courtroom and not the front – if he breached the order. “This is a one-off deal,” said Judge Menary.