A pervert sent "bizarre" pictures of himself holding a gun and with his face covered in blood to what he believed was a 14-year-old girl.
Sean Duffin also shared explicit images with the supposed teenager via Facebook and WhatsApp while claiming to be a loan shark who meted out violence to those who failed to repay him. But, unbeknown to him, he was actually being ensnared in a paedophile hunter sting.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday, Wednesday, that the 44-year-old, of Alexandra Road in Birkenhead, began messaging a Facebook account set up by a member of Child Online Safety Team UK on August 11 last year. Charles Lander, prosecuting, described how Duffin sent the decoy a picture of his face covered in blood and said that he "loans people money and fights them when they don't pay back".
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He also sent an image of himself holding an air gun and asked her if he could take her out for a meal. The conversation then moved onto WhatsApp, where he sent her a photograph of his penis and "asked if it looked bad" then told her to delete the picture "because it was rude".
Duffin then asked for an image of the girl in bed before "talking about people getting beheaded in Saudi Arabia". He sent further photographs of his face "cut and bruised" and another of himself holding a gun, told her he "liked to walk around his flat naked" and said he "could be her grandad" due to the disparity in their respective ages.
The messages were subsequently sent to the police, and the defendant was arrested on September 14. Under interview, Duffin told detectives he "didn't know how old the girl was" and had been "adding random people on Facebook".
He said that he "must have been drunk" and "had no intention of meeting up", while he had sent the explicit images "for a laugh" and stated that it was "just what I do". Having later been released on bail to attend court on December 7, he failed to appear – having apparently "got the dates wrong" – and was eventually arrested on December 15 after suffering an epileptic fit.
Duffin, who has one previous conviction for an "unrelated matter" from 15 years ago, has remained in custody since. He appeared in court via video link to HMP Altcourse with his right arm in a sling after breaking his shoulder, an injury which required surgery.
David Woods, defending, told the court: "The defendant is a single man. He has only a few friends, and it would seem that for a number of years he has been alcohol dependant.
"His life is focussed around drinking. It is clear that the use of alcohol disinhibits his behaviour.
"He accepts responsibility as far as this offence and his conduct is concerned. He appreciates that there is an issue to be addressed here.
"Despite the fact that he has been a heavy drinker, he has relatively limited previous convictions. He has never been to custody before.
"He accepts that he cannot go back to a position where he just spends all day drinking. He is anxious to try and make contacts that don't involve drinking."
Duffin admitted attempted sexual communications with a child and breaching court bail. He was handed an eight-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months.
Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: "Over the course of about three or four weeks in summer last year, you were corresponding with somebody you believed was a 14-year-old girl. The messages would at least satisfy the description of bizarre, so far as some of them were concerned.
"You were sending images of yourself with apparent injuries and photographs including knives and other weapons. You were portraying yourself in some sort of macho way to her, but some of the messages had a sexual element.
"There is no messaging suggesting meeting up for a sexual purpose. If that had been the case, that would have been a much more serious offence than it is already.
"I am entirely satisfied that these messages were sent by you when you were under the influence of drink. It seems you are, in fact, an alcoholic.
"You have, of late, expressed yourself willing to cooperate with treatment. You are someone without any relevant convictions.
"Your guilty plea is an expression of regret for the offending. There is a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation."
Duffin was also given a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 30 days and a six-month alcohol treatment requirement. He will be required to sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years, and was subjected to a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
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