Paedophile caught trying to meet mum and baby
Carl Martin was arrested after speaking online to an undercover police officer
- Published
A paedophile has been jailed for trying to arrange a meeting with a mother who he believed was offering her two children, including a 10-month-old baby, for sexual activity.
Carl Martin, 36, of Cilmaengwyn Road, Pontardawe, Neath Port Talbot, spoke online to an undercover police officer who was posing as the mother, Swansea Crown Court heard.
Martin was given a three-year sentence and placed on the sex offenders' register for life.
Judge Geraint Walters said Martin was a "danger to children" for trying to organise the meeting, which also involved a seven-year-old.
The court heard Martin had created a profile on a social network site under a false name, as well as using other techniques to enable him to search the internet anonymously.
He used it to initiate contact with an undercover officer who he believed to be the mother of two young children.
The court heard Martin was asked specifically during the conversations what he wanted to do with the children, to which he responded that he wanted to engage in sexual activity.
During the trial, he denied wanting to meet children for sexual activity, claiming he wanted to help the woman he was speaking because she was “a single mother”.
A jury sitting at Swansea Crown Court found Martin guilty of two offences of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence on 1 August.
Judge Walters said the account he gave to the jury was "fanciful" and "plainly untruthful" and the fact that one of the children was "disturbingly young" was an aggravating factor.
Addressing Martin as he sat in the dock, Judge Walters said: “You didn’t by chance come across this individual, it was what you were looking for.
“You kept seeking to arrange a meeting and wanted the mother to give you an idea of how far she would permit you to go."
Judge Walters concluded it was his view Martin “would have been prepared to go as far as that mother would allow you to”.
Martin was sentenced on both counts to three years in prison, to run concurrently.