Jason Hildred

A 48-year-old man from Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, has been sentenced to 16 months in prison after attempting to initiate sexual conversations with three people he believed were underage girls. Jason Hildred, residing at Walpole Close, was convicted at Lincoln Crown Court on Monday, March 7, 2022, for three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child.

The court heard that Hildred's offending began in November 2020 when he started messaging someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl named Dani on the Chat Avenue website. The conversations continued on WhatsApp, where Hildred attempted to steer discussions towards sexual topics. In reality, 'Dani' was an adult member of a child protection organisation conducting sting operations to catch potential predators. Noel Philo, prosecuting, detailed how Hildred similarly contacted another user he believed to be an 11-year-old girl named Izzy, again attempting sexual conversations; this individual was also part of the same protective group.

Hildred's history of such behaviour came to light during the proceedings. In 2013, he had received a three-year community order for attempting to meet a girl under 16 following sexual grooming. Despite this, while on bail for the recent offences, Hildred was caught again in 2021 after messaging a police decoy posing as a 14-year-old girl. He was arrested in June 2021 and, during interview, admitted to being 'totally stupid' regarding his actions.

Mitigating, Nicholas Bleaney argued that all offences were attempts with no physical contact, and Hildred deserved full credit for his guilty pleas. Bleaney attributed the behaviour to the pressures of lockdown, during which Hildred, a railway worker, lost his job and was isolated. He was also dealing with his girlfriend's terminal cancer—she passed away shortly after—and had been scammed out of his £70,000 life savings by a con artist. Judge Simon Hirst acknowledged that none of the 'victims' were real children but emphasised Hildred's prior conviction and offending while on bail as reasons a suspended sentence was inappropriate. The judge stated: 'What you did was exactly the same thing with someone you thought was a 14-year-old girl.'

In addition to the 16-month jail term, Hildred was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years and subjected to a sexual harm prevention order. This case, reported by the Spalding and South Holland Voice, highlights ongoing efforts by child protection groups and Lincolnshire Police to safeguard minors from online grooming attempts.