Mansfield pervert who tried to groom two young girls was really chatting with undercover cops
A Mansfield pervert with a previous conviction for sex offending who tried to groom two young girls online was really chatting with undercover police officers, a court has heard.
Andrew Greaves asked one 12-year-old decoy to wear a dress with no knickers and take her top off before saying he wished to marry her, prosecutor Devni Kitulagoda told Nottingham Crown Court.
The chats were uncovered when police raided Greaves’ home and found three indecent pictures of children on his iphone.
The sexualised conversations with two different decoys took place over two days in July 2024 on the Snapchat and Chatiw platforms.
The court heard Greaves, aged 53, has one previous conviction for attempting to facilitate a child sex offence in 2019 when he tried to meet what he thought was an 11-year-old girl.
"The ice is extremely thin for him,” Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said on Thursday. “He is isolated and inadequate, he is never going to fulfil his ambitions with regard to relationships.
"To send him immediately to custody would serve no useful purpose. But he has got to have a custodial sentence."
Laura Pitman, mitigating, said Greaves' family has replaced his smartphone with an old style Nokia phone and cancelled their internet subscription to “ensure there is never an opportunity for him to offend again”.
She said he was unable to attend rehabilitation courses that were imposed after his earlier conviction because of Covid.
"I appreciate you have problems, I understand they are not your fault," Judge Rafferty told him. "If you get access to the internet you get distracted.
"You have been trying to contact young children and making sexual propositions. If you had carried them out you would have gone to prison for many years.
"If you offend again you will leave me with absolutely no choice but to lock you up.”
Greaves, of Princes Street, Mansfield, admitted two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child and possession of indecent pictures of children when he appeared at Nottingam Magistrates Court on June 26.
On Thursday he received a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with a 31 day programme, and 12 rehabilitation days.
A sexual harm prevention order was imposed for five years and he must sign the sex offenders register for ten years.