An internet user who thought that he was chatting with a 12-year-old girl later “spouted utter rubbish” by pretending that he believed that he was actually exchanging sexualised messages with an adult. He claimed that he was just “playing along with it” but, in reality, he had a “deviant interest” in children, Hull Crown Court heard.
Shaun Warhurst, 63, of Reed Street, off Freetown Way, Hull, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to arrange the commission of an offence of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, in 2024. He also admitted three offences of making indecent videos or images of children on June 27, 2024.
Judge Gurdial Singh said that Warhurst began communicating online with a 12-year-old girl in April 2024 but he did not realise that she was, in reality, a decoy. He complimented her on her “sexy body” and asked to swap pictures with her, the court heard.
Warhurst offered to help her practise kissing and guide her through her sexual experiences. An arrangement was made to meet at Hull Paragon Station but, in the end, Warhurst cancelled the meeting.
Judge Singh said that Warhurst was arrested but he later “spouted utter rubbish” to the probation service by claiming that he thought that he was communicating with an adult and was “playing along with it” in a bid to “catch them out”. During police interview, Warhurst had “said something completely different” by accepting that he was having inappropriate conversations with a child.
Judge Singh told Warhurst: “For some reason, you cancelled that meeting and ultimately you were arrested and your phone was seized. There was no child at all but you didn’t know that.”
There was an indecent video of a child in the most serious Category A and two in Category B as well as an image in Category C. “You have a deviant interest in children,” said Judge Singh.
“You were willing to engage in sexual communication with a child and you did it for your own sexual pleasure. You can’t accept that. I could, without any difficulty, send you to prison today.
“That would not address your deviant interest in children. You would be released without any support or that interest being challenged and addressed – and you would be left to your own devices.
“The best way to protect the public is for that to be challenged. It gives you one – and only one – chance to put this behind you.
“If you breach it, you will be back before me and you will go to prison. If we do meet again, you know what’s going to happen.”
Having indecent images of children was not a “victimless” offence. “It’s far from that,” said Judge Singh.
“People like you create a market place and that market place results in the abuse of children to provide those images, so you could seek pleasure by viewing them.” If people like Warhurst were not the “end user” there would be no need for children to be abused.
Jazmine Lee, mitigating, said that Warhurst had shown “shame and embarrassment” and he had, in the end, maintained his guilty pleas, despite earlier indicating that he wanted to change them and deny the matters. He could benefit from working with the probation service to gain “insight” into his behaviour.
“This offending is some time ago, 2024, and he has not been in trouble for anything since,” said Miss Lee. Warhurst had no previous convictions.
“It does appear that this is offending that was out of the blue,” said Miss Lee. “He appears to have been struggling to accept it and that’s often the case in these types of scenarios.”
Warhurst had given up his employment in anticipation of facing a prison sentence. “He has always had gainful employment,” said Miss Lee. “It appears that he has gone through his employed life without a blemish.”
Warhurst was given a suspended prison sentence of two years and seven months. He was given 200 hours’ unpaid work and 20 days’ rehabilitation.
He was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and he must register as a sex offender indefinitely. He must pay a £187 victims’ surcharge.
Did you know you can make Hull Live a preferred source of Hull news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here’s more information about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it straight away by clicking here.