Man caught by anti-paedophile group jailed

Dean Callow was convicted and sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court

A man has been jailed after engaging in sexual communication with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl.

In reality, the "girl" was an adult decoy set up by an anti-paedophile group, Lincoln Crown Court heard.

Dean Callow, 58, formerly of Eastwood Road, Fishtoft, was arrested on 31 January 2021 after he was confronted by members of the group in a lay-by on the A17 in Lincolnshire.

He had denied attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity but was found guilty and jailed for 20 months.

David Eager, prosecuting, said Callow had been in contact with the person he believed was an under age teenage girl since 21 January 2021.

During that period Callow encouraged the decoy to engage in sexual conversations and to exchange images of a sexual nature despite being repeatedly told they were just 13, Mr Eager said.

The court heard Callow maintained he was the victim of mistaken identity when he was interviewed by the Probation Service and put forward the name of an innocent work colleague during the court proceedings.

'Out of the ordinary'

Michael Cranmer-Brown, mitigating for Callow, asked for him to be given a chance to avoid custody.

"Mr Callow is now 58, he was a man of a good character at the time of these offences," Mr Cranmer-Brown argued.

"This was frankly out of the ordinary for Mr Callow to behave in the way the jury found," he added.

The court heard Callow had since sold his house and was making a fresh start in the Spalding area.

Passing sentence, recorder Graham Huston told Callow he was being sentenced on the basis that the victim was a decoy.

However, Mr Huston told Callow he had adopted the identity of a young good-looking male and continued his activities despite the decoy repeatedly telling him she was 13.

DC Farah Khan, who led the police investigation, was in charge of the case, said the sentence demonstrated "this behaviour will not be tolerated in Lincolnshire".

“We will robustly investigate these offences and bring offenders to justice", he said.

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