Luke Anthony Hemmington

A 37-year-old man from Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, has been sentenced to prison for committing six child sex offences. Luke Anthony Hemmington appeared at Northampton Crown Court on 23 October 2025, where he received a custodial sentence of three years and one month following his guilty plea to the charges in August.

The offences occurred between late 2022 and early 2023, and again in January 2025. During this period, Hemmington used the online messaging platform Kik to contact individuals he believed to be 13- and 14-year-old girls. Unbeknownst to him, these were undercover police officers from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) of Northamptonshire Police. In his interactions, Hemmington sent several pornographic videos to the first decoy, whom he thought was a 13-year-old girl. With the second decoy, believed to be 14, he sent additional pornographic material and engaged in explicit conversations about his past sexual experiences and his desires to engage in sexual activity with her.

Hemmington was arrested after the deceptive operations and charged with three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and three counts of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act. These proactive policing methods highlight Northamptonshire Police's commitment to safeguarding children online, as demonstrated in this case.

PC Holly Morgan-Humphrey from the POLIT team commented: “I am really pleased to see Luke Hemmington sent to prison and I would like to thank DC Abi Jones who worked on this investigation alongside myself. Together we have put a very predatory individual behind bars. In the POLIT, we are very passionate about protecting and safeguarding our children in this county and as you can see from this case, we use proactive methods to bring offenders to justice.” The investigation was a collaborative effort that successfully removed a potential threat to children.

This case serves as a reminder of the dangers posed by online predators and the effectiveness of law enforcement in using decoy operations to identify and prosecute such individuals. Northamptonshire Police continue to prioritise child protection through their specialist teams.