Jamie Davies (Image: South Wales Police)
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A Port Talbot man who tried to groom a 14-year-old boy on Snapchat has been jailed for more than two years after a court heard he offered to cook the child a meal in exchange for the boy performing a sex act.
Jamie Davies, 34, of Lister Avenue, Port Talbot, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court after previously pleading guilty to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual communications with a child, and three counts of possessing indecent images of children across Categories A, B and C.
The Snapchat messages
Prosecutor Abu Hussain told the court that in June 2024, the boy’s mother discovered Snapchat messages between Davies and her son on the child’s phone.
During the conversations, Davies discussed meeting the boy, offered to cook him a meal if the child masturbated for him, and told him: “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” before sending an image of his penis. He also offered the youngster money to “keep quiet” about their communications.
Police involvement
The boy’s mother contacted police, and while an officer was at the family home taking a statement, Davies messaged the boy’s phone again attempting to arrange a meeting.
Davies was arrested and his phone seized. Officers found 40 indecent images of children stored on the device, including 10 Category A images and films depicting children being raped.
Impact on the victim
A statement from the boy’s father, read to the court by the prosecutor, described how his son had gone from being an outgoing child to one who rarely left the house. The father said his son now suffered nightmares that woke him during the night and had started “lashing out at people,” something he had never done before. The boy’s schoolwork had also been affected.
Defence arguments
Emily Bennett, representing Davies, said her client had reflected on his behaviour and was, to use his own word, “disgusted” at what he had done and “understands he spoke to this child in a way he never should”.
She told the court Davies had ADHD, autism, and anxiety and had been a long-term user of crack cocaine – an addiction he was taking steps to address. He was also engaging with community mental health treatment services in Port Talbot.
Sentencing
Judge Paul Thomas KC said there was an element of grooming in Davies’s behaviour and told the defendant he had no doubt that had he met the boy, sexual contact “would have been on your mind”.
The judge said that despite Davies’s protestations to the contrary in the pre-sentence report, it was clear the defendant had paedophile tendencies.
Davies was sentenced to 28 months in prison, which included a one-third discount for his guilty pleas. He will serve 40% of the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years, made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period, and handed a 10-year restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the boy. Davies has 11 previous convictions, the most recent being a public order offence in 2019.
