Attempted to have sexual communications with child

NEWRY Crown Court heard that a man who believed he was having sexual communications with a girl aged 12 was in reality communicating with an adult trained online law enforcement officer deployed to act under a pseudonym.

The communication between the two took place between June and August 2022 on the platforms Chap App and Snap Chat.

The activity from the Snapchat account was linked to the internet of 33 year old Kyle Whiteside with an address in Scarva.

The communication was sexual in nature and he discussed with the child what she wearing and various
sex acts.

Police attended the home of the defendant in September 2022 and following his arrest Whiteside denied the offence but later pleaded guilty.

He was charged with attempting to make sexual communication with a child.

In his summary, Judge Ramsey said that the aggravating feature of the Newry case was that this offence was committed while Whiteside was on bail on two matters before Dungannon Court.

Here, Whiteside was charged with attempting to have a sexual communications with a child under the age of 16 between June and July 2020. He was further charged with attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and having possession of an extreme pornographic image.

Other charges against Whiteside are to remain on the books.

Outlining the facts in the Dungannon case, Judge Ramsey said that a member of the public had created a fake social media account profile of a 13 year old girl.

This profile was contacted by Whiteside in June 2020.

He engaged with this profile and his conversation became sexual.

Whiteside discussed waiting to meet the child and encouraged her to masturbate in sharing pornographic material.

He also encouraged her to carry out sexual acts.

The defendant’s phone was later seized by police and two images of extreme pornographic nature were located.

Whiteside was later interviewed and made no admissions.

Judge Ramsey said that a pre-sentence report in relation to the Dungannon matter had concluded that Whiteside was accessed as being at ‘medium level’ and not assessed as being dangerous.

Those recommendations did not change in a second report in relation to the Newry case.

Whiteside was sentenced to 16 months in prison with the last year of the sentence spent on licence.

Under the licence conditions, Whiteside must actively participate in any programme of work recommended by your supervising officer, designed to reduce any risk you may present and to attend and co-operate in assessments by PBNI as to your suitability for programmes and other offence focused work.

Whiteside was also place on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

The court also imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for a five year period.

It is ordered that the defendant is subject to the following conditions:

He is prohibited from 1. Residing or staying overnight at any address without the prior approval of your Designated Risk Manager

2. Having any access, association, contact or communication with young persons under 16 years unless approved by Designated Risk Manager and Social Services, save for everyday inadvertent and unavoidable contact.

3. Entering into any romantic or sexual relationship with any person without having made to that person full disclosure of your criminal record and such disclosure having been verified by your Designated Risk Manager.

4. Using any social media platform, i.e Snapchat etc without prior approval of your Designated Risk Manager.

5. Undertaking any activity in paid, private, voluntary or charitable capacity which affords access to children or vulnerable adults, unless approved by his Designated Risk Manager.

6. Denying Police access to his home to ensure he is complying with the terms of the Sexual Offences Prevention order.

7. Must register any internet capable device and mobile phone/ DRM with the police, to include IMEI, serial numbers and relevant passwords.

8. Must allow police officers or designated risk manager to inspect and interrogate all electronic devices owned by you, used by you, or under your control, including routers and network devices, as follows:- (i) By facilitating physical access; (ii) By providing all and any access passwords or passcodes; (iii) By facilitating the connection of forensic technology.

The items seized by police during their investigations are to be forfeited and destroyed by order of the Court.