Swansea Crown Court (Image: Leighton Collins / Alamy)
Last Updated: 4 April 2026
A 75-year-old man who attempted to pay for a child to be delivered to his house for sexual abuse has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Nicholas Anthony Page, of Ropewalk Road, Llanelli, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court after pleading guilty to attempting to possess indecent images of children and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence. He had no previous convictions.
How the offending was uncovered
The court heard that Page’s crimes came to light in February last year after a Carmarthenshire Council care worker made a routine visit to the defendant’s home. During the visit, Page began openly discussing conversations he had been having with an unidentified person about sexual encounters with girls “as young as 14”. He showed the carer a photograph of a female on his phone and asked the worker to guess her age.
The care worker subsequently reported what Page had told him to his manager, who contacted the police.
What officers found on his phones
Prosecutor Craig Jones told the court that officers attended Page’s address on April 19 and seized his mobile phones. Although no indecent images were found on the devices, examination of his text messages revealed exchanges with an unknown individual in which Page was “actively trying to obtain such material”, requesting images of children as young as eight.
The messages also showed Page attempting to arrange sexual activity with young girls in exchange for payment. In one exchange, it was agreed that a female would be taken to Page’s home at 2pm the following day. However, no child was ever brought to the property – and when the arrangement fell through, Page sent a series of angry messages demanding to know where the girl was and stating that the other person had his bank card details.
Mr Jones told the court: “The clear inference is he was paying for the provision of children to be brought to his property.”
Further conversations revealed Page discussing a desire for sex with virgins, stating his preference was for 13-year-olds but that he was also interested in children “10 or younger”.
Repeated failure to attend court
Page had originally been listed for sentencing in May last year but failed to appear on multiple occasions, citing medical reasons for which he provided no supporting documentation. He was eventually arrested on a warrant in December and remanded into custody. The court was told he had “remained uncooperative” with efforts to obtain medical reports to assist the court.
Defence mitigation
Ryan Bowen, representing Page, told the court his client had endured a “troubled upbringing” and had been placed into care at a young age, where he experienced physical and other forms of abuse. He said “the care system of seven decades ago was not what it is today”.
While accepting that “nothing could justify the genuinely shameful offending”, Mr Bowen said Page was “a product of his childhood experiences”. He described time spent on remand since December 8 as a “sobering” experience for a man with no criminal history, adding that the conviction represented an “indelible and sinister mark” upon Page, who “intends never again to darken the doors of any court”.
Sentencing
Judge Paul Thomas KC said it was evident from the phone evidence that Page had been trying to persuade an unknown adult to send him indecent images and to “provide children” for him to engage in penetrative sexual activity with. He noted that payments appeared to have been discussed to facilitate the offending, though acknowledged it was possible – as Page himself had come to believe – that he had been “conned” by the person he was communicating with.
The judge said he had read a pre-sentence report carefully and concluded there was no realistic prospect of rehabilitation at the present time. He added that even if the sentence he was about to impose could have been suspended, the seriousness of the offending meant he would not have done so.
Page received a one-quarter reduction for his guilty pleas, resulting in a three-year prison sentence. He will serve 40% of that term in custody before being released on licence to complete the remainder in the community. He was also made a registered sex offender for life and made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
