A man from Swansea Valley has been imprisoned after grooming a young girl on Facebook, sending her explicit content, and attempting to deny responsibility by claiming his account was hacked.
According to details presented at Swansea Crown Court, Jordan Hill, aged 22, of Tyle Teg, Clydach, Swansea Valley, engaged in online communication with a 13-year-old schoolgirl via Facebook. The interactions, which involved grooming elements, included Hill complimenting the girl, describing her as beautiful, and encouraging her to 'talk dirty' to tease him. The conversations escalated to discussions of anal and oral sex, with Hill inquiring if she had a friend who could join a threesome. He sent explicit videos of himself and requested that the girl masturbate, while there was evidence she had sent him videos or pictures, though these were not recovered.
The offending came to light when the girl stayed with a family member and borrowed a phone to access social media, as she had left her own device at home. The family member discovered the unlogged accounts and found the disturbing messages and videos. Acting swiftly, they took screenshots of the material before alerting the girl's mother. This led to Hill's identification and arrest by South Wales Police.
During police interview, Hill denied sending the messages, insisting his Facebook account must have been hacked. However, an expert report commissioned to investigate potential third-party access, viruses, or malware found no evidence to support his claims. Hill had previously pleaded guilty to sexual communication with a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual acts. He had no prior convictions.
In mitigation, barrister Hywel Davies explained that the background to the offending included the recent end of Hill's relationship, feelings of isolation, lack of family support, immaturity, and trauma from discovering a colleague's suicide at work. Davies noted the late guilty pleas as a sign of Hill's shame and his willingness to engage with probation services.
Recorder David Harris, sentencing Hill, described the messages and videos as 'highly graphic and highly sexualised' and identified an element of grooming in the defendant's actions. The judge stated that, had the case gone to trial, the sentence would have been four years' imprisonment. Accounting for the guilty pleas, this was reduced to 40 months. Hill will serve up to half this period in custody before release on licence. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same duration, restricting his access to young girls and internet use.
The case was reported by Wales Online on 16 January 2023, highlighting ongoing concerns about online grooming and the importance of vigilance in digital communications.