The Judge told him: ‘You need assistance with your deviant interest in children’
Cameron Morrison admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child(Image: Hull Live)
An online predator who had highly sexualised chats with what he thought was a 12-year-old girl later tried to talk his way out of trouble by claiming that his account had been hacked, Hull Crown Court heard. Cameron Morrison, 30, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child at Holme-upon-Spalding Moor, near Market Weighton, between August 28 and September 30, 2023.
Rachel Scott, prosecuting, said that Morrison exchanged messages with a 12-year-old girl who, in reality, was a decoy and not an actual person. He used his own Snapchat account.
The girl told him that she was 12 years old and Morrison replied that she was “a bit young” for him but he asked her to send a picture of herself. She sent a selfie of her sitting on a bed and he told her that her face looked beautiful.
She sent another picture of herself in a T-shirt but Morrison asked her for intimidate details about her body. “He told her not to tell anyone that he had asked,” said Miss Scott.
Morrison said that he wanted to strip the girl naked and he asked her to send a topless picture. He made other sexual suggestions. The contact between them later fizzled out.
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Oliver Shipley, mitigating, said that Morrison accepted that he needed to work on the issues involved in his behaviour. He had no previous convictions and he did not object to a sexual harm prevention order being made.
Judge Gurdial Singh said that Morrison’s behaviour was short-lived and happened some time ago. “The chat descended into you fantasising about her being 18 or over,” said Judge Singh.
“You couldn’t help yourself.” Morrison later claimed that he had been hacked but this was “utter nonsense” from him. “I don’t accept for a moment that you didn’t have a sexual interest in her,” said Judge Singh.
“You need to confront that. You need assistance with your deviant interest in children. The fact that you don’t admit that is troubling.
“The public are best protected in going to the heart of what is behind this. This offence arose out of you having a sexual interest in children.”
Morrison, of Highfield Close, Hawkhurst, Cranbrook, Kent, was given a two-year community order, with a probation requirement and 150 hours’ unpaid work. He was given a five-year sexual harm prevention order and he must register as a sex offender for five years. He must pay a £114 victims’ surcharge.
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