A man who admitted three sexual offences involving what he thought was a 13-year-old girl, and was found guilty of two more, has been jailed for three years.

37-year-old Darrin Bellingham admitted attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

He had sent indecent photographs and videos of himself to the ‘girl’ which made up the fifth charge against him for misusing the telecommunications network.

Having denied arranging to meet a child for sex, and attempting to groom a child for sex, he was found guilty at trial earlier this year.

It was explained in court that the person he had been messaging wasn’t actually a child.

An adult woman operating as part of London Overwatch – a group of so-called ‘paedo hunters’ – had acted as a decoy to catch him out.

Judge Catherine Fooks and the Jurats were told that is why the charges against Bellingham included the words “attempting to…”, because a child wasn’t actually involved.

He could have faced a maximum sentence of 14-years in prison for the offences he admitted and those he was found guilty of, but a number of letters of reference and other documents seen by the court added to the mitigation offered by Defence Advocate Alan Merrien who represented Bellingham when he was sentenced by the Royal Court on Friday.

Judge Fooks told Bellingham “you are rightly shocked by your own behaviour”, but added that “there is cause to believe you can be rehabilitated”, as she sentenced him to three years in prison.

She also set an extended sentence licence of two years, and set his sexual offenders notification period until February 2030.

Pictured: Bellingham appeared in court from custody when he was sentenced on Friday.

Bellingham had messaged the woman, who he thought was a 13-year-old girl, on a messaging app called ‘Kik’.

Despite repeatedly deleting and reinstalling the app, Bellingham was in contact with the decoy between June and August 2024, also using WhatsApp, before London Overwatch shared the evidence they had gathered with Guernsey Police.

Bellingham and the ‘girl’ had discussed meeting up, but defence Advocate Merrien told the court there was no intention to actually meet with no travel or hotel bookings made.

Advocate Merrien gave the court evidence of trauma that Bellingham had suffered in his own childhood, before he moved to the UK and then to Guernsey in 2009.

He originally came to the island to play rugby but an injury ended his playing career adding to a low period in his life which coincided with the offences being committed last year.

Advocate Merrien said Bellingham accepted what he had done was wrong, and that the only images exchanged were of himself – none were of children – and that he had sought counselling after he was arrested to ensure he would never do anything like this again.

Bellingham had been remanded in custody since December 2024 after he admitted three of the five charges against him. He was found guilty of the other two charges in February.

HIs three year prison sentence is backdated to the date he was first remanded in custody.