Scarborough paedophile jailed after being snared on messenger app by undercover police officer

Wayne Dunn, 53, believed he was chatting online to a like-minded individual but had in fact been hoodwinked by the officer whom he had contacted using an encrypted email service and the KIK messenger app.

The undercover cop, who used the pseudonym ‘Dave’, told Dunn he had two young daughters, aged six and 10, living with him and that he enjoyed talking to people who “shared the same desires”, prosecutor Soheil Khan told York Crown Court.

Dunn, in turn, described in grotesque detail what he would like to do to the two girls, added Mr Khan.

The salacious gossip was repeated in a series of vile messages he sent to the police decoy between October 2020 and May this year.

He told the decoy to ask his ‘daughters’ if they “wanted to have some fun” and asked for pictures of the two girls.

Images of the fictional girls were sent to Dunn who expressed his “excitement”.

He said he wanted to meet them “for real” and “couldn’t wait” to do so, added Mr Khan.

Police turned up at Dunn’s address in Eastfield on June 10 and arrested him.

They seized a Samsung mobile phone which had access to the KIK app.

He told officers that the sordid email messages and exchange of images were just “a bit of fantasy and role play” and that he found this “sexually gratifying”.

He told officers that he “did not discriminate” when it came to the ages of children that he found sexually attractive.

He was charged with attempting to cause or incite a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

He admitted both offences and appeared for sentence on Friday via video link.

The court heard that Dunn, a grandfather, had 13 previous offences to his name dating back to the early 1980s and was jailed in 2017 for possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

He also had convictions for violence, burglary, theft and breaching a sexual-harm prevention order designed to prevent him contacting children online and curb his contact with youngsters in general.

The new offences started just a few days before his prison licence was due to expire following his previous online offending.

Stephen Munro, for Dunn, said his client “realises he has a problem” and that the bond with his family was now “lost forever”.

Judge Simon Hickey said he regarded Dunn, of Manham Hill, as “dangerous” and described his offences as “disturbing” and “shocking”.

“These (were) extremely worrying, revolting messages,” added Mr Hickey.

He told Dunn: “You knew (that the fictional girls) were only six and 10 (years of age) and you would have carried on to abuse (them) if you were given a chance.”

He said that an extended prison term was required because “unhesitatingly, I assess you as dangerous”.

Dunn was jailed for four years and ordered to serve an extended three-year period on prison licence to protect the public.

The judge made a new sexual-harm prevention order, which will run for an indefinite period, and placed Dunn on the sex-offenders’ register for life.