Garforth paedophile 'remains a risk' to children until he admits sexual attraction
A defiant paedophile has been told by a judge that he needs to admit his attraction to children.
Richard Smith wanted pictures of a 12-year-old girl in a bikini and sent her photo of himself in his underwear, Leeds Crown Court heard.
But the profile on Kik messaging app was run by a paedophile hunter group looking to snare sex offenders.
The 58-year-old received a community order but Judge Andrew Stubbs KC is concerned that Smith remains in denial.
He told him: “There’s clear evidence you have a sexual interest in children. Until you address that I’m concerned you pose a risk, despite the shame of being caught.”
Smith made contact with the decoy profile in November 2024, prosecutor Zanisha Herbert told the court.
The supposed girl told him she was just 12, but it failed to deter him.
He sent her the photo of himself and talked about being “aroused” and that he was masturbating throughout their conversations.
Officers went to his home on Burnham Road, Garforth, around two weeks later to arrest him.
His phone was seized and he was found to have downloaded a single Category-A abuse image of a child, the most serious kind.
During his police interview he denied offending but later admitted attempted sexual communications with a child and making an indecent image of a child.
He has no previous convictions.
Mitigating, Catherine Silverton said Smith had self-referred to the Safer Lives sex-offending-awareness course.
Judge Stubbs pointed to his continuing denial about his attraction to children, and Ms Silverton said: “He is thoroughly ashamed of himself and in my submission, it’s not entirely unusual that that level of shame makes it difficult to accept.
“Having let himself and more importantly, his family down, he should have known the impact of such offending.
“His life and his family’s life has been shattered by what he has done.”
Addressing the defendant, Judge Stubbs said Smith had an addictive nature, having been addicted to heroin, then to porn.
He also said that Smith had lost his job as a result of his latest offending.
He gave him a 24-month community order, with 20 rehabilitation days and 240 hours of unpaid work to complete.
He put him on the sex offender register for the next five years and gave him a five-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
But Judge Stubbs warned him: “Confront your demons and acknowledge what was happening.”