West Hallam man jailed after grooming girls online

A 41-year-old man has been jailed after he groomed three young girls, after befriending them online.

Richard Jackson sent sexually explicit messages to the girls between 2020 and 2022, encouraging them to engage in sexual activity and to share images of themselves.

Police officers found numerous graphic Snapchat messages to one of the girls, where Jackson implied, he knew that she was only 14 and stated that he was ‘willing to wait’.

An investigation was launched in May 2021, after the parents of one of the girls discovered the messages from Jackson on her device and he was arrested.

In March this year Jackson, of Caversham Way, West Hallam, was charged with 18 offences:

• Three counts of sexual communication with a child
• Three counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity
• 11 counts of possessing an indecent image of a child
• One count of causing a child to look at image of sexual activity

He admitted the charges and appeared at Derby Crown Court on 4th August where he was handed a prison term of four years and nine months.

Detective Constable Heather Rogers who led the investigation said: “Jackson got a kick out of coercing young girls into sexual activity and exploited them for his own gratification.

“It is clear he knew the age of the girls he was speaking to and targeted them because of this.

“This has been a long running and complex case, that required painstaking digital forensic work to examine the devices used and to collate all the messages that Jackson had sent and received during his interactions with the victims.

“However, it is pleasing to see that this work has resulted in justice being done, with Jackson being put behind bars.

“I’d like to thank the victims in this case for the courage they have shown over the last five years, and hope that this sentencing allows them some closure so that they can move forward with their lives.”