Pontefract paedophile wanting 'naughty fun' sent photo of his genitals to online hunter group

Lee Newsome latched onto the online account for the ‘girl’ and began his conversation by saying: “Hi beautiful, how are you doing hon?” In reality, he was talking to members of the Scorpion Hunters UK group.

The conversation, instigated by Newsome in August 2019, progressed for several months until February 2020 when he changed tact and began asking “more suggestive questions”, prosecutor Harry Crowson told Leeds Crown Court.

He asked her if she was single, before saying she was too young for him. But he soon came back online and began telling her he wanted “naughty fun”.

The 37-year-old asked her questions about masturbation and her touching his genitals. He then sent a photo of his erect penis, which failed to send, so he sent it again.

In the months that followed, the decoy tried to steer the conversation to other matters, but Newsome continued to make sexual suggestions. He eventually blocked her profile.

Newsome, of Headlands Road, Pontefract, had his details passed to police who was arrested in September 2020. He admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. The court was heard he had nine convictions for 19 offences, none of which are related to sexual matters.

Mitigating, Shannon Woodley, said: “He has no history of this kind of offending. He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. It appears to be part of a phase of offending that he says was when he had issues with alcohol.

"Off his own back, he has started to address these issues.” She said that Newsome claimed he himself was abused as a child.

The judge, the Recorder of Leeds, Guy Kearl KC, told him: “The facts are simple. You were discovered by a group who posed as a 14-year-old girl. It seems to me you groomed her.

"You were persistent in what you did. There was no girl but your intentions were clear. There is a minimisation – you denied that you had a sexual attraction but it’s plain to me that you did.”

He jailed Newsome for 32 months.