Ipswich man, 33, posed as teenage boy on teen dating site

During the online contact, 33-year-old Oliver Milton sent the decoy officer pictures of a young male and naked pictures which he claimed were of him, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

He also suggested she should skip school and meet up with him and asked what she’d done with boys, said Marc Brown, prosecuting.

Milton admitted attempting to incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity in Felixstowe and causing a child to look at an image of sexual activity in 2020.

He also admitted three offences of making indecent photographs of a child.

He was given a 21-month prison sentence suspended for two years, and a 35-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He was also ordered to take part in a sex offenders' treatment programme and an alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement.

In addition, he was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for ten years and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for the same period.

Sentencing him, Recorder Jeremy Benson said he had sent pornographic material to the undercover officer while pretending to be a 16-year-old boy.

He described Milton, who has no previous convictions, as “vulnerable “ and said the probation service felt there was a good chance of him being rehabilitated.

Milton, of Springhurst Close, Ipswich, appeared at the sentencing hearing via a prison video link.

Oliver Haswell, for Milton, said his client had been living in Greece when he was communicating with the undercover officer in the UK.

He had been lonely and had started drinking too much and had “lost his grip on reality.”

Mr Haswell said Milton had stopped his offending of his own accord.

“He now wants to evolve his life and put these dark matters behind him,” said Mr Haswell.

He had had a taste of custody in the last month and was keen to accept any help that was offered to him.