A 22-year-old man from Bridgend county has been given a suspended prison sentence after he tried to sexually communicate with someone he believed was a 12-year-old boy.
Iestyn Compton created a fake profile posing as a 19-year-old girl on a messaging app in November 2023 and began chatting with a user called ‘Jake’ – but unbeknown to him, he was actually exchanging messages with a decoy police officer.
The messages
Newport Crown Court heard that despite the decoy making clear he was 12 years old and in school at the time, Compton continued the conversation.
Prosecutor Kirstein Murphy told the court that Compton asked ‘Jake’ whether he was wearing boxers or briefs and urged him to go to the toilet to take a photograph of what he was wearing.
Compton also offered to send a picture in return if the boy showed him his briefs, and sent an image of a female wearing a thong, the court heard.
Devices seized
On November 21, 2023, South Wales Police executed a search warrant at Compton’s home and seized a number of digital devices.
Officers discovered a large collection of indecent images of children stored on the devices – 58 at the most serious category A, 108 at category B, and 896 at category C.
The court also heard that Compton had distributed a category C video through a messaging application. Internet search history revealed he had looked up ‘lift up skirt’, and he was a member of a group called ‘school girls in uniforms’.
Guilty pleas
Compton, of Pen-y-Fai Road, Aberkenfig, had no previous convictions or cautions. He pleaded guilty to seven offences in total – two counts of distributing an indecent photograph/pseudo photograph of a child, three counts of making an indecent photograph/pseudo photograph of a child, one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child, and one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child as an adult.
Mitigation
Tom Roberts, representing Compton, told the court: “These offences took place when he was a young man of 19. He now falls to be sentenced when he is now 22, and I hope you can appreciate and understand the impact these proceedings have already had on him.”
He added: “He had a broadly happy, healthy and normal childhood, and after he finished GCSEs and A-Levels began working in the family business. He retains full-time employment and still lives with his parents. He works in his parents’ business as a carpet salesman.”
Mr Roberts said: “He tells me of his shame and remorse at finding himself here, and the shame and sorrow for what he has done.”
He continued: “He is not someone who is sorry simply that he got caught, but desperately sorry for what he’s done and for what he has put his parents and family through by going through these proceedings.”
Mr Roberts described how Compton’s offending “stemmed through a period of isolation which he dealt with poorly as a young man.”
Sentencing
His Honour Judge Harrison sentenced Compton to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, telling him he should be “thoroughly ashamed of himself.”
Compton must complete ten rehabilitation activity requirement days and 120 hours of unpaid work. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for seven years.
An order was made for the forfeiture and destruction of an iPhone, and Compton must pay a £156 victim surcharge.
