A man befriended people he believed were young girls on Facebook and sent them explicit messages and pictures of his penis, a court has heard. Daniel Tyler told the girls he wanted to have sex with them, asked for pictures of them in their school uniforms, and joked about kidnapping them. But the social media profiles he was communicating with were decoy accounts being operated by members of so-called paedophile hunter groups.
At the time of the offending the 32-year-old defendant was in a long-term controlling and coercive relationship with someone who was more than 40 years his senior and a judge at Swansea Crown Court said he was satisfied that Tyler was vulnerable person and would be at risk of being exploited if sent to prison.
Brian Simpson, prosecuting, said that over a 10-day period in November 2020 Tyler contacted the Facebook profiles of what appeared to be four young girls – one aged 12, one aged 13, and two aged 14. During the course of the conversations with people he believed to be children the defendant engaged in sexual conversations, said he wanted to marry and have children with them, and joked about kidnapping them. The court heard Tyler sent pictures of his erect penis to the contacts and also asked for photographs including photos in school uniforms. Tyler told one of profiles that he was going to "make you my bitch". The prosecutor said the accounts the defendant was communicating with were actually decoy accounts which were being operated by adult members of two different so-called paedophile hunter groups. It was one of the decoys who alerted police to the conversations and Tyler was subsequently arrested at his home address. The defendant's phone was seized and examined and though officers were unable to access his Facebook archive it could be seen he was friends with a list of young females on the social media platform.
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Daniel Tyler, of Herbrandston, Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, had previously pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted sexual communication with a child when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. Dean Pulling, for Tyler, said the defendant had grown up in an "unusual and dysfunctional family situation" and at the time of the offending was "in the grips of an abusive, controlling, and coercive relationship" with someone 40 years older than he was. He said there had been no intention on the defendant's part to meet the decoys and it was clear from the pre-sentence report that references to kidnap had been "humorous" – being accompanied by "lols" – rather than anything more sinister. The barrister said Tyler had been diagnosed as having borderline learning difficulties as well as anxiety, depression, and cognitive functioning issues and was "sexually immature and naïve". Mr Pulling said given the defendant's background and difficulties he would struggle in a custodial setting and would be at risk of being exploited by more sophisticated offenders.
Judge Paul Hobson told Tyler he had engaged in sexual conversations with what he believed to be children and at times was manipulative in his communications with them. He told the defendant: "You have an unhealthy sexual interest in children. You are a paedophile – there is no other explanation that makes sense of your actions. You need to face up to that."
The judge acknowledged the defendant's "complex and troubled background" and the long-term coercive relationship he had been in and said he was satisfied Tyler would be vulnerable in prison and would be "susceptible to similar exploitation". With one-third discounts for his guilty pleas Tyler was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for two years and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and a sex offenders programme. The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order to run for the same length of time.
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