An aspiring toy shop owner sent a sexual picture of himself wearing “Cookie Monster pyjama bottoms” to an undercover police officer he thought was a 12-year-old girl.
David Parry, 39, of Boston Avenue, Runcorn, is now behind bars after being snared in an online sting operating in the East Midlands and engaging in sexual communication with elements of “grooming”.
Parry, who was planning to open a toy shop before facing justice today at Chester Crown Court, exchanged messages with fictional schoolgirl persona “Zoe” via Kik Messenger between October 8 and October 20 last year.
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Matthew Dunford, prosecuting, said “Zoe” was really an undercover police officer who told Parry she was 12 years old.
Parry's messages quickly became sexualised.
When Zoe asked why he used the profile name “UKDaddyDom”, cyber pervert Parry said he “liked to be dominant when I’m with a girl, I like to play the daddy role”.
The next day he sent a sexual picture of himself wearing pyjama bottoms.
On October 13 he said was “feeling very horny” and asked her to send him a sexual picture of herself, assuring her “I won’t tell anyone”.
He also sent the girl a video of himself performing a sex act.
On November 10 last year, officers from Cheshire Police arrested Parry at home in Runcorn and seized two laptops and a mobile phone.
“UKDaddyDom” denied having indecent pictures but a forensic trawl uncovered abuse images featuring girls aged between five and 13 years old.
These consisted of: 48 of the most serious kind in Category A, 30 Category B, and 132 Category C, totalling 210.
Digital clues showed he had shared two Category A images on November 25, 2012.
Parry claimed he spoke with people online who appeared to be under 18 years of age but said “you never know”.
At North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court in Warrington on November 23, Parry pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child, causing a child under 13 to watch sexual activity, possessing 210 indecent images of a child, possessing a prohibited image of a child, distributing an indecent image, and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
Mr Dunford said Parry had seven previous convictions for 16 offences, although none for sex offences.
Parry served a prison sentence after he was jailed in August 2000 for attempted robbery and having an imitation firearm with intent.
His most recent previous conviction was in 2008.
Paul Wood, defending, pleaded mitigation for Parry’s prompt guilty pleas and a “significant delay” in bringing the case to court.
He noted the abuse images were not recent and clustered from 2010-12.
Mr Wood urged the court to consider a suspended sentence as the best way to serve the public interest by rehabilitating Parry.
He argued the distribution offence could be treated as an aggravating feature of other charges due to the small number of images.
Mr Wood said: “One of the best things I can say is, he’s very sorry, he knows he’s got to change his ways.
“This case has absolutely turned his world upside down.
“In terms of mental health, he’s very vulnerable in my submission and he’s found it remarkably difficult with these proceedings hanging over his head.”
He conceded Parry had expressed “some minimisation with regard to his attraction to young girls” in conference with the probation service and had tried to blame booze and drugs for looking at abuse images.
Parry also had a business.
Mr Wood said: “The defendant has a business.
“It’s just to make it abundantly clear it’s reasonable for the defendant to conduct that business.”
Judge Michael Leeming, presiding, told the court Parry had “applied to open a toy shop in Halton”.
He said Parry’s offences spanned a decade and were too serious for anything other than an immediate custodial sentence.
During his summing-up, he said Parry’s offending had involved sending a sexual picture of himself wearing “pyjamas, Cookie Monster pyjama bottoms”.
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Judge Leeming sentenced Parry to three years and two months in prison and made him subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to run indefinitely, and placed him on the sex offenders register, also to run indefinitely.
Sending him down he said Parry’s guilty pleas showed he accepted he “contributed to the demand and victimisation of vulnerable children” who are subjected to abuse, and warned him: “It’s important for you to understand these aren’t victimless offences.”
The judge said the attempted sexual communication charges “showed an escalation”, although he noted there was no real child victim in relation to those counts.
He said the defendant’s “attempts to minimise” his crimes left him “not satisfied there’s a realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.
Considering the representations on Parry’s behalf and a pre-sentence report, Judge Leeming said: “The author presents you as medium risk of serious harm.
“It’s felt you can be managed in the community as you have made lifestyle changes to remain offence-free.
“For example, contacting your GP to assist with regard to depression, you’ve abstained from alcohol, and you’ve applied to open a toy shop in Halton and expressed a willingness to engage with probation.”
A post on Parry's social media business page yesterday said it would be shut today due to "appointments".
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