"Vulnerable" man jailed for attempting to meet 14-year-old boy

Thursday 08 March 2018

A 32-year-old "vulnerable" man who explicitly messaged and tried to meet a boy he believed to be 14 - but was in fact a member of the public using a fake profile - has been jailed for 11 months.

Richard Alan Wavell was trapped by Cheyenne O'Connor, a member of the public who posed as a 14-year-old on Grindr, a dating app sometimes used by gay men.

Legal adviser Lauren Hallam told the Magistrate's Court that Wavell started messaging the fake profile set up by Ms O'Connor on 5 January. Ms O'Connor repeatedly told Wavell she was a boy aged 14 but he said he didn't mind, adding: "If we meet, no one will be able to know."

Wavell listed his sexual interests in explicit terms and asked the boy about his. He also sent pictures of himself and asked the boy for one. When Ms O'Connor sent a picture from a UK database used by vigilantes, Wavell replied: "You’re cute for a 14 year old."

Wavel then agreed to meet the boy, giving him his personal address and phone number so that their conversation continued on both Grindr and Whatsapp. He repeated that it was "fine" if the boy was 14 and said that they would "take it easy" and that the boy could touch him. 

On the day of the agreed meeting, Ms O'Connor photographed Wavell waiting outside the hospital. She then messaged Wavell, still posing as the boy, saying he had been help up with his 12-year-old brother. Wavell said he could bring him along and that he could wait while he and the boy were in the bedroom. After the boy said he was by the Post Office, Wavell walked there while still messaging the boy, telling him: "You have no choice, I came out for no reason. You are wasting my time." 

The Court heard that when the boy said he was in the area of Snow Hill, Wavell walked there. He then told the boy he would see him the following day after school, adding" "Don’t make any excuses. Be glad you are given a second chance."

Ms O'Connor then went to the police showing screenshots of the chat conversation and photos of Wavell "following" the boy around town.

Pictured: Cheyenne O'Connor has helped bring another two men to justice in connection with grooming offences this year. 

When questioned by the police, Wavell confirmed the profile was his and that he knew the boy was 14. He also admitted discussing his sexual interests and intending to meet the boy to go to his home. Wavell denied being attracted to children but said he would get lonely every night, adding that his head had been messed up recently after his grandmother died over Christmas. "It would have only been touching," he told Police officers.

Advocate James Bell, who was defending Wavell, said he had been caught by a vigilante, "someone who looks to enforce the law by taking it into one's hands." He said that the matter had been raised by the Police in recent times via a media statement in December 2017 and a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. Quoting the Police, Advocate Bell said: "The risk to individuals who are 'exposed' in this way, whether accurately or not, from themselves or others is generally not anticipated, assessed or cared about." 

Advocate Bell described Wavell as a vulnerable man. He told the Court that Wavell needed the presence of an appropriate adult for his attendances in Court as he had "limitations bordering on learning disabilities." He said: "Mr Wavell suffers from extreme social anxiety... He is a man, now aged 32, who in the past struggled at school and in the workplace. To this day, he is granted a care package and receives extensive care in the community, with 17 hours a week to assist him with even the most basic skills."

Advocate Bell urged Court for leniency because of Wavell's "particular vulnerability" and the "significant impact" the case had on him. He said that Wavell required the assistance of a psychologist to tell his mother of his conviction, adding: "The very fact of being charged and brought to Court is something that will have a lasting impact on him. He has been remanded in custody from the outset of the case. It hasn’t been easy, it has been difficult. He has felt stressed, depressed and suffered from loss of sleep."

Advocate Bell said that the six weeks Wavell spent in custody were a "sufficient and meaningful punishment" and had acted as a "powerful deterrent."  

Pictured: Richard Alan Wavell appeared in Magistrates' Court facing one charge of attempting to meet a 14-year-old following sexual grooming.

Handing out his sentence, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said: "The circumstances of the offence have come before Court in a similar way several times in the past few months and I have noted the observations of Jersey Police about Ms O’Connor activities." 

Referring to the Social Enquiry Report, which mentioned a number of challenges Wavell encountered in his life, the Assistant Magistrate said: "It's not difficult to have sympathy for him but (the report) does conclude Mr Wavell is at significant risk of re-offending. The aggravating factor in sentencing is his record, there are four convictions for assault, the most recent one being a grave and criminal assault, all of which have involved contact offences with teenage boys. They were not sexual offences but there was suspicion of sexual motivation."

He noted that there was "a clear intention of sexual contact, with a fictitious person in this case, but someone Wavell believed to be a 14 year old." 

The Assistant Magistrate concluded: "I cannot see that a non-custodial sentence is appropriate in this case. He has to understand that there are serious consequences to this offending." He handed out a 11-month prison sentence as well as a five year restraining order under which Wavell will have to retain the navigation history on all devices with access to the internet and let the police checks them. He will also appear on the Sex Offenders' Register for five years.