David Lewis (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)
Last Updated: 3 minutes ago
A 42-year-old man who exposed himself and masturbated during a Snapchat video call with who he thought was a 12-year-old girl has been sentenced to five years in prison.
David Lewis carried out the offending while already on bail for possessing hundreds of child sexual abuse images – and in breach of a condition banning him from any unsupervised contact with children.
Sentencing Lewis at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Paul Thomas KC described him as “a committed paedophile”.
Lewis, of Ashdale Lane in Pembroke, had pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child, attempted incitement of a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity, distributing an indecent image of a child, and three counts of making indecent images of children.
The online messages
Prosecutor Craig Jones told the court that on November 10, Lewis added what he believed to be a 12-year-old girl on Snapchat. The account was in fact a decoy operated by a police officer.
After receiving a reply stating she was in school and aged 12, Lewis told the girl he was 20 and provided a picture of a different, much younger man.
He tried to call the decoy and continued to contact her over the days that followed, at one point writing: “I really want to see you or your friend in uniform. Horny.”
Lewis also instructed her to go to a toilet and take a photograph with her top open. During a subsequent Snapchat video call, he exposed himself and began masturbating.
When Lewis was arrested, detectives searching his property identified the bathroom and underwear seen in the footage as matching items found in his home.
The initial investigation
The case had originally begun on August 6 last year, when officers visited Lewis’s address and took possession of three mobile phones. A preliminary check of the handsets revealed child sexual abuse material, and he was arrested.
A thorough forensic review later uncovered 263 Category A, 71 Category B, and 51 Category C indecent images of children. The overwhelming majority were moving images – 246 of the Category A files, 55 Category B, and 37 Category C were videos.
Investigators also established that on July 27, Lewis had sent another Telegram user a Category A image showing an adult male raping a girl aged between 10 and 12.
Lewis was released on bail while the full analysis of his devices was being completed – during which time he began targeting the decoy account.
Defence
Speaking in Lewis’s defence, Dan Griffiths told the court his client attributed his offending to “feelings of loneliness and isolation he subsequently experienced” after a relationship broke down.
Sentencing
Judge Paul Thomas KC sentenced Lewis to a total of five years’ imprisonment. He must sign the sex offenders’ register for life, and a sexual harm prevention order was imposed for a period of 10 years.
