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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Neil Docking

Man who tried to talk schoolgirl and friends into hotel room sex walks free from court

A man tried to convince a 13-year-old girl to come to a hotel for sex by bragging how big his penis was.

Paul Berryman, 24, invited the child to bring her friends to his room for the weekend so they could have sex.

Berryman sent the schoolgirl a video of himself performing sex acts and even suggested she should try incest. 

But the whole time the pervert, of Moscow Drive, Tuebrook, was actually talking to an undercover police officer.

Paul Berryman, 24, of Moscow Drive, Tuebrook (Lynda Roughley)

Liverpool Crown Court heard Berryman started messaging 'Morgan', who said she was 13, on Snapchat on July 5, 2017.

Paul Treble, prosecuting, said: "The defendant responded 'nice, let's see you'."

Berryman, calling himself "bezza", asked questions about the child and her other young friends' sexual experiences.

He said he wished he was "f***ing her" and asked her to send him "naughty" pictures, but the officer refused.

When he requested she come to the hotel and bring her friends, the officer said they didn't know him and wouldn't want to.

Mr Treble said: "He tried to encourage her again, suggesting he had a large penis and the child and her friends would enjoy sex with him."

How to keep your children safe online

The court heard Berryman said he was pleasuring himself while the messages were being exchanged.

On July 12 he repeatedly asked for naked pictures, begging her "please", then sent the video of him masturbating.

The officer said she had a 16-year-old brother and he asked if she had thought about incest, which she replied was "mental".

Berryman said he committed incest with his 14-year-old sister and when she accused him of lying, claimed he had a video.

Enquiries led police to an address in Ballantyne Road, Clubmoor, where Berryman lived with his girlfriend.

Berryman, of previous good character, was arrested and interviewed on May 21, 2018, when he denied any wrongdoing.

However, he later admitted attempting sexual communication with a child, to cause a child to engage in sexual activity and to cause a child to watch a sexual act.

Katy Appleton, defending, said her client had been drunk and on drugs at the time and urged the judge to spare him jail.

She said Berryman had been in a stable relationship with his girlfriend, who attended court to support him, for two years.

Ms Appleton said her "remorseful" client worked at a warehouse in Speke and hoped to complete a degree in marine biology.

She said: "He wouldn't have behaved in this manner had he not been using cannabis and alcohol to excess."

Ms Appleton said Berryman was relieved it was a police officer and not a girl and was deemed to be a low risk of reoffending.

Paul Berryman, 24, of Moscow Drive, Tuebrook (Lynda Roughley)

, said Berryman was a fantasist who had been influenced by hardcore porn available online.

He said: "The sort of conversations you had with her are typical of the corrupted and corrupting type of conversations that are all too frequently seen in these courts because of the proliferation of pornography on the internet and the sort of fantasy situations and relationships depicted in typical adult porn activity."

Referring to the video he sent of him performing a sex act on himself, the judge said: "Quite how you thought that was going to be attractive to her beggars belief."

Judge Menary said the talk of incest was "complete fantasy, complete nonsense", adding: "All designed, I have no doubt, to create for you an environment where you would obtain your own perverted sexual gratification."

The judge said Berryman was in a category of offender for whom the risk of reoffending was small compared to other groups.

He said there was a "very good prospect" that if he engaged in a sexual offenders treatment programme he could be rehabilitated.

Judge Menary jailed him for five months, suspended for two years, ordered him to carry out the programme and a 30-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement

He ordered Berryman to sign on the Sex Offenders Register and to comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for seven years.

Berryman's girlfriend sobbed in the public gallery when he was spared jail.

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