A Swindon sex offender convicted of trying to groom a 14-year-old girl by calling her “fit” and suggesting they meet has been sentenced.
Carl Kavanagh, 37, was first before Swindon Magistrates’ Court in April when he pleaded guilty to engaging in communication with a child for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification between 25 December 2019 and 6 January 2020.
At the earlier hearing, prosecutor Keith Ballinger said the defendant, of Stubsmead, Eldene, had sent Facebook messages to his friend’s daughter.
The initial messages were supposedly innocuous, but he soon went on to write “I think you’re fit” despite the child repeatedly telling him her age. “We can be more than friends if you want to”, he said.
She told her father of the messages and the police were informed. In custody, whilst being interview, Kavanagh admitted what he had done.
He was also convicted of harassing his ex-partner by messaging her from four different Facebook provides between 28 January and 4 June last year.
Each time she blocked him, a new profile later messaged her about their children. She told police he knows the correct channels regarding child contact and believes he was making attempts to get to her rather than genuinely inquiring about them.
His victim has moved home and changed her name as a result of the persistent harassment.
The court heard Kavanagh was convicted of actual bodily harm in 2016 for which he served a one-year community order.
Charlotte Frizzell, defending, said the messages “started off innocent” and it was only the last few messages which mentioned the child being “fit” and about them meeting up.
She said her client had not asked for pictures, nor were any sent to his victim.
“He was off his medication for a significant period of time”, Ms Frizzell commented. She went on to say he was drinking heavily but takes full responsibility for his actions. She told of how he is now stable on medication.
She said Kavanagh was “absolutely disgusted by his behaviour”, which she claims he first came to hear about during his custody interview.
It was said social services probed his living arrangements – he resides with his partner and four children – but found no concerns. Police seized his internet devices but discovered no illicit content, it was claimed.
Ms Frizzell accepted his offending has passed the custody threshold, but asked district judge Joanna Dickens to follow the recommendations of the pre-sentence report prepared by the National Probation Service. It suggested he would best be suited to a suspended sentence order.
Judge Dickens labelled his offence “so incredibly serious”.
Adding: “You’re a 37-year-old man, she’s a 14-year-old girl. It [grooming] always starts with concerns which seem meaningless. You should never be contacting a child. It’s pure grooming.”
Calling his actions “calculated”, she said the starting point for the offence is 18-months imprisonment. But taking into account the fact they did not meet, his mitigation and guilty plea, she reduced it to six months – suspending it for 18-months.
Judge Dickens also imposed 40 rehabilitation activity requirement days and order him to undertake the Horizon programme, delivered to men considered to be at a medium, high or very high risk of reoffending.
He was told to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.
Concluding, Judge Dickens said a short stay in prison would not give Kavanagh the help he needs.
She said she took into account that social services have not removed you from your home where there are children and that nothing on your devices showed you are a sexual predator.
There was no separate penalty for the count of harassment against his former partner.
