May 2023

Liskeard sex chat paedophile caught by undercover police three times

An ingrained paedophile from Cornwall instigated filthy sex chats with what he thought were young girls on three separate occasions – but each time the ‘girl’ proved to be an undercover police officer.

Lee Sharp, 39, sent explicit photos and videos of him performing sex acts on himself and urged the ‘girls’ to do the same.

Sharp, of the Liskeard area, appeared at Truro Crown Court for sentence after pleading guilty to a raft of charges including making indecent images of children, attempting to incite a child to view a sex act, attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and a breach of a previous court order.

The offences took place over a number of years between 2020 and 2023.

Prosecuting the case, Ryan Murray told the court how Sharp was given a suspended sentence in 2015 and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order after being convicted of indecent image offences.

Mr Murray then described each of the offences. Regarding “Isabella”, Sharp contacted her on Kik messenger and soon started sex chats, saying she was “way too young but sexy as f*ck”.

His behaviour included him sending what was actually an undercover office videos of him masturbating and urging “Isabella”, who claimed she was 13, to do the same. He also told her the disgusting things he wanted to do with her and suggested they got a hotel room together.

Not long after Sharp contacted “Chloe”, again an undercover police officer pretending to be a 14-year-old. Similar sex chats followed before he was arrested at work and his phone seized.

Examination of the phone showed how Sharp downloaded indecent images of children spanning all three categories including the most serious.

Mr Murray also spoke of how further back in 2020, Sharp contacted another undercover officer claiming to be a 12-year-old girl.

He again engaged in disgusting chats, sending and requesting images and videos and expressing his sexual desires regarding the “girl”.

He also tried to get her to video call him to watch him masturbate. Police searches of Sharp’s room showed that the room featured in the background of pictures and videos he sent.

Sentencing Sharp, Judge Robert Linford reiterated the facts of the case and said that Sharp did not realise he wasn’t talking to a child and committed some of the offences whilst under investigation for earlier matters. He said: “You behaved in a manner any right minded person would find utterly abhorrent.

“It has been my misfortune to read the description of the images you downloaded. These are images of real children, they are not computer generated. They are real boys and girls being subjected to extreme sexual abuse.

“You entered very early guilty pleas and I am pleased to note your desire to change. If you don’t change sentences will get longer, and longer, and longer.”

Sharp was jailed for four years and four months and made subject of a new sexual harm prevention order. He must also sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

August 2015

Man admits possession of hundreds of indecent images of children

A pervert is set to be sentenced after being caught with hundreds of indecent images of children.

Lee Sharp, 31, of Allen Vale, in Liskeard, pleaded guilty at Truro Crown Court to seven counts of making indecent images of children in categories A to C on the scale used by police to categorise such material with A being the most serious.

The offences included 48 images in category A, 119 in category B and 523 in category C and took place on dates between August 2012 and December 2014.

Sharp was granted conditional bail to appear before the court for sentence on August 21 following the preparation of a pre-sentence report.