The court was told that David Reed aged 61, formally of Fields Farm Road, Hyde had been communicating online with who he thought were two 13-year-old girls but were in fact adults.

Reed requested indecent images of the girls, shared indecent images of himself and instructed the girls to perform sexual acts on themselves.

He then arranged to meet the 13-year-olds – one at his home and the other in West Yorkshire. Reed travelled to Leeds where he was confronted and detained by the adults who set up the profiles. Police were called and Reed was arrested.

After being taken in to police custody for questioning, Reed was charged and later pleaded guilty to six counts of attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity, attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

Today he was sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court and handed 21 months in prison, a 10 year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a 10 year requirement to sign the sexual offender’s register.

DC Mike Allen, of Project Phoenix within GMP’s Tameside district, said: “Reed was communicating with who he thought were two 13-year-old girls but were in fact adults. He turned the conversation sexual – asking them to perform sexual acts on themselves to satisfy his desires. Reed went as far as arranging to meet these young people at his home, whilst his then partner would have been at work, and 40 miles away in Leeds. If he had have been communicating with youngsters – he could have committed further, serious offences which often have a long lasting impact on victims.

“I would like to use this opportunity to encourage young people who are (or anyone else who suspects a young person is) being inappropriately contacted by an adult via the internet or any other channel to report it to an appropriate adult or agency – whether that be a parent, carer, teacher or the police. Ensuring that victims are safeguarded and offenders face justice is one of our highest priorities.

“I hope today’s sentence serves as a warning to offenders – deterring them from communicating with a child to satisfy their sexual desires. As this case demonstrates, being convicted of doing so can result in a prison sentence. There are a number of specialist services available to prevent offending.”

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