A MAN from Kinmel Bay sent sexualised messages to who he thought was a female child but was, in fact, an undercover police officer.
Marcus Catlin was told he poses “a very high risk to children” at Mold Crown Court on Thursday (June 25), as he was jailed for three years and three months.
Catlin, 59, of Foryd Road, had previously pleaded guilty to the following 11 offences:
- Four counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
- Three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child.
- Two counts of failing to comply with sex offenders register notification requirements.
- Attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
- Engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
Prosecutor Karl Scholz said on January 8, Catlin made contact with “Vicky”, a police decoy posing a mother of a six-year-old girl.
Catlin then spoke to “Betty”, who was also a decoy but who he believed was the daughter of “Vicky”, on January 31.
Police arrested Catlin at his home on February 17 – during a search of his home, two tablets and a phone were seized.
This constituted a breach of the sexual harm prevention order which Catlin was given in 2020, when he was jailed for 16 months for possessing indecent images of children, because he had not registered these devices with polices.
Officers also found 49 still and 18 moving indecent images of children, ranging from category A (the most serious) to category C.
During his police interview, Catlin said he was “all talk,” and added: “I wasn’t going to act on it.”
Representing Catlin, Ryan Rothwell asked the court to acknowledge his guilty pleas, and the fact that this “wasn’t direct contact offending”.
Catlin suffered a significant bereavement when a close friend, who he acted as a carer for, died.
Custody will be “difficult” for him, Mr Rothwell added.
Sentencing, Judge Timothy Petts called Catlin’s offences “alarming,” and said he has a “sustained, admitted sexual interest in children”.
He told him: “You know it’s got to be a prison sentence for what you did.
“You pose a very high risk to children. You don’t seem to be able to control your desires.”
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