Paedophile ex-West Yorkshire Police officer given ten-year jail sentence for arranging to meet eight-year-old girl for sex

A paedophile former West Yorkshire Police officer has been given a ten-year prison sentence for arranging to meet an eight-year-old girl for sex.
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A judge told Michael Conlon he poses a serious danger to children as he was handed the extended jail term.

Conlon was arrested in November last year after he travelled to Liverpool from his home in Leeds to meet an undercover police officer posing a fellow paedophile.

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Leeds Crown Court heard how the officer had met Conlon in an internet chatroom pretending to be a father of two children.

Former West Yorkshire Police officer Michael Conlon was given an extended ten-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence.Former West Yorkshire Police officer Michael Conlon was given an extended ten-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence.
Former West Yorkshire Police officer Michael Conlon was given an extended ten-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence.

Ben Campbell, prosecuting, said the officer told Conlon he had an eight-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son.

Conlon sent the officer a message saying that he was looking for "dads who share" along with sickening messages expressing his sexual interest in children.

The 46-year-old defendant then exchanged further messages on an encrypted app.

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Conlon told the officer he had previously had sex with a 12-year-old girl but was no longer able to get access to children.

Michael Conlon pictured outside Leeds Crown Court in 2009 when he was jailed for for attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child.Michael Conlon pictured outside Leeds Crown Court in 2009 when he was jailed for for attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child.
Michael Conlon pictured outside Leeds Crown Court in 2009 when he was jailed for for attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child.

The prosecutor said Conlon arranged to meet the officer so they could arrange for him to have sex with the 'girl'.

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The officer told Conlon that if he bought a toy unicorn for his daughter it would "put her at ease".

Conlon bought a toy unicorn and sent the officer a video of it.

Michael Conlon pictured outside Leeds Crown Court in 2009.Michael Conlon pictured outside Leeds Crown Court in 2009.
Michael Conlon pictured outside Leeds Crown Court in 2009.
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The defendant travelled to Liverpool on November 20 last year and they met in a Costa coffee shop.

The officer recorded his conversion with Conlon during the 25-minute meeting.

Conlon was arrested the next day at his home.

The arresting officers knocked on the door for five minutes and suspected that he was clearing incriminating evidence from his electronic devices.

Chat logs on the devices were later found to have been scrambled.

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A toy unicorn matching the one in the video he had sent was recovered from the living room.

Conlon, of Newton Grove, Chapeltown, made no comment when interviewed by officers.

He pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence.

Conlon lost his career in the police when he was jailed in 2009 for attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child, attempting to meet a girl under 16 after sexual grooming and making and possessing indecent photographs of children.

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A probation service report assessed him as posing a serious risk to children.

Andrew Coleman, mitigating, said Conlon pleaded guilty to his latest offence at an early stage.

Mr Coleman said his client also has mental health problems which required medication.

Conlon was told he must serve a six-year custodial term, of which two-thirds must be spent in cudosty.

He will then spend a further four-year period on licence.

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Sentencing, Judge Tom Bayliss QC said: "The prison sentence which was imposed on the last occasion did not deter you, nor did the sexual harm prevention order.

"You were prepared to abuse an eight-year-old child for you own sexual needs.

"You were prepared to take risks. You were prepared to act upon your own sexual impulses to sexually abuse a very young child".

The YEP reported in 2009 how Conlon was jailed for two and a half years for trying to groom a teenage girl over the internet.

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He was a serving policeman when he was exposed as a paedophile by a colleague masquerading as a 14-year-old girl in an internet chat room.

Conlon, then aged 33, believed he was grooming a schoolgirl for sex.

But the Killingbeck-based constable was actually sending sick messages and sexual webcam footage of himself to a female officer from the Metropolitan Police.

Conlon contacted her ‘Shelley 14’ profile on chat website FaceParty numerous times over a six-month period.

He called himself ‘Wingnut79’ and ‘Man in uniform69.’

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Conlon asked if she was a virgin and said he wanted her phone number and naked pictures after she told him she was aged 14.

He also arranged to meet a genuine 15-year-old girl he wanted to have sex with.

Conlon, an officer for five years before his arrest, turned up for the meeting in Knaresborough but she did not.

When police raided his then home in Primrose Hill Drive, Swillington, in August 2008 they found 370 depraved pictures and videos.

The images of girls as young as five being abused had been downloaded to his computer over a three-year period.