Stephen Hooper

Stephen Hooper

36, Male Suspended - Suspended

Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

Offender ID: a9bfe379-491e-433d-a225-1a778c87fa25

Offence Summary

Stephen Hooper pleaded guilty to six sexual offences, including attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and possessing indecent images of young children. He was not sentenced to immediate custody due to time already served on curfew, but required to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

Full Description

Stephen Hooper, a 36-year-old man from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, appeared at Southend Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to six sexual offences on Thursday, November 20, 2024. The charges stemmed from his attempts to engage in inappropriate sexual communication with what he believed was a 13-year-old girl, as well as the possession and creation of indecent images of children.

The court heard that in 2024, Hooper sent explicit messages to the supposed 13-year-old, describing sexual acts and requesting to meet her to carry them out. Unbeknownst to him, the 'girl' was an undercover police officer posing online, leading to his arrest by Essex Police in spring 2024. Upon searching his electronic devices, officers discovered a significant collection of illegal material, including 42 Category A indecent images depicting penetrative or sadistic sexual abuse of children as young as four years old. Hooper also admitted to making Category A, B, and C indecent images between July 2022 and May 2024, as well as 76 indecent pseudo-photographs and possessing extreme pornography involving sexual intercourse between a human and a horse.

Despite the severity of the offences, Hooper had no previous convictions. Judge Samantha Leigh adjourned the sentencing to allow for a pre-sentence report from the probation service, with the hearing scheduled for mid-December 2024. However, the judge explained that due to the time Hooper had already spent on a 12-hour curfew under electronic monitoring since his arrest—equivalent to half-days served—even the maximum sentence of two years' immediate custody would be effectively served through this period. As most prisoners serve only 40% of their sentence before release on licence, his curfew time exceeded any potential custodial term.

"The sentence is not going to be immediate custody," Judge Leigh stated in court. Following his guilty pleas, Hooper was immediately required to register as a sex offender. The case was reported exclusively by Charles Thomson, Crime & Investigations Reporter for Essex Uncovered, highlighting the role of undercover operations by Essex Police in preventing child sexual exploitation.

Location

City: Leigh-on-Sea

County: Essex

Address: Manchester Drive

Case Details

Police Force: Essex Police

Name heritage (predicted origin)

Country: United Kingdom

Confidence: 95%

Special Thanks

A huge thank you to Essex Police for their tireless dedication in bringing this offender to justice. Your commitment and hard work truly help keep our communities safe, and we are deeply grateful.

Source: echo-news.co.uk

Request a correction or removal

If anything on this page is inaccurate, out of date, or should no longer be published — for example, if an appeal has been granted, a conviction overturned, or reporting restrictions apply — please let us know and we will review it promptly.

Requests are reviewed by our team. Where a valid reason is provided we will remedy the situation as quickly as possible. Please include any supporting evidence or official source links to help us act fast.

Important notice — this is not an official register

sexoffenders.co.uk is an independent, unofficial publication. We are not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, any government body, police force, or official sex offenders register. We research, write about, and republish information drawn from cases already reported in the media, published in court records, or released by police forces. We disclose our source for each entry where available.

Whilst we take care to be accurate, we cannot guarantee the completeness, currency, or ongoing accuracy of any information. Nothing on this site constitutes legal advice. Users must not use information from this site to harass, intimidate, threaten, or otherwise harm any individual. Any such conduct may be unlawful.

If you believe any information is inaccurate, out of date, or requires removal for legal reasons (including reporting restrictions or matters involving a child), please use the correction form on the relevant offender page, or refer to our Privacy Policy for how to contact us. We will review all reports promptly.