Jailed paedophile messaged 12-year-old from cell

Kevin Hardwick also exchanged messages with an undercover officer

A jailed paedophile who used an illicit mobile phone to send sexualised messages to a 12-year-old girl has been handed a further sentence of eight years and nine months.

Kevin Hardwick also exchanged messages with an undercover officers he believed was a child during his time at a HMP Kirkham in Lancashire.

He sent an image of a teenager to the 12-year-old while posing as a 14-year-old boy, while searches were also made on his phone for "11-year olds" and "social media and child grooming".

The 47-year-old admitted two counts of inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity including penetration at Preston Crown Court.

In a statement read to the court, the girl's mother said: "To find out a fully grown man was posing as a young teenage boy is quite frankly vile.

"And to find out this man was in a prison cell at the time made me sick to my stomach.

"How on earth was this male even able to have a phone in his cell?"

She continued: "We try not to hold her back through what has happened, but that feeling of dread of who or what she encounters in the wider world has been massively heightened and will stay with us forever because of this individual."

Det Con Charlie Brown said: "Hardwick is a paedophile who lured a young girl into speaking to him by posing as someone who is a similar age.

"His actions are sickening – it was clear that he knew what he was doing and had researched what platforms were best to groom children online."

He said the victim and her family had shown incredible strength and he hoped the sentence would bring "some sort of closure".