A paedophile sent a photo of himself in pants to a ‘girl’ - boasting in lasciviously cryptic terms of his ‘nine inches’.

Kenneth Harrison, 59, was arrested at Banbury coach station as he waited to meet one of the five children with whom he had been chatting online.

None of those ‘girls’ were real but were, in fact, adults posing as children online in an effort to catch would-be paedophiles.

They succeeded and, on Friday, Harrison was jailed for five years and three months for his efforts to meet with two of the five ‘girls’ for sex.

Sending him to prison, Judge Michael Gledhill KC told the defendant: “The message must go out from this court loudly and clearly that if anybody seeks to meet girls of this age for sexual purposes they will be very severely punished by way of substantial prison sentences.”

Prosecutor Peter Pride earlier told Oxford Crown Court that Harrison had met all the ‘girls’ on what was described as a ‘dating app’.

In each case, the defendant told person operating the profile his real age and even shared his address.

He was not deterred when he was told the supposed ages of the girls, ranging from 12 to 14, and asked them about sexual topics – including whether they had kissed anybody before and praising them on their appearance.

Harrison told one girl that it was a ‘shame’ she could not be his girlfriend. Another was told she was ‘beautiful’ and that he had a crush on her. A third was complimented as ‘pretty’.

He arranged to meet up with a fourth girl, having sent her a picture of himself in his pants and boasting cryptically of his ‘nine inches’.

They arranged that she would come to Banbury by bus so she could spend the night at his flat, Harrison having instructed her to lie to her mother about where she was going.

He was arrested at Banbury coach station as he waited for the fictitious child to arrive.

Despite talking to this girl online, he was swapping explicit messages with another ‘child’. He sent her a photograph of his bed and suggested they could ‘mess it up’, Mr Pride said.

Harrison, of Penrhyn Close, Banbury, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to eight counts including attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence.

Mitigating for his client on Friday, Adrian Amer said his client had suffered ‘trauma’ previously and had been affected by the death of his father. He described the defendant as a ‘very severely damaged individual’.

Although noting that ‘only a fool’ would suggest the offences could not attract a prison sentence, he pointed out that the probation service’s pre-sentence report concluded Harrison could be ‘safely managed in the community’.

Harrison will remain on the sex offender register for life. He will be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

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