A MAN who admitted to having a sexual interest in underage girls has been sent to prison for continuing to target vulnerable girls.

David Barrie Williams, 21, of Maes yr Odyn in Holywell, admitted sending messages to who he believed were two underage girls.

He also admitted making indecent images of children and that he had a sexual interest in young girls.

Appearing at Mold Crown Court, Williams was jailed for the offences.

Prosecuting Ryan Rothwell said Williams was convicted in 2018 for the same offences and was given a 12-month community order as well as being subjected to a sexual harm prevention order for 5-years.

From this, Williams was prohibited from using social media apps without permission and communicating with children under the age of 16, any devices he had he must notify officers.

However, last year, following an unannounced visit to his home, it was discovered he had been communicating on apps such as Snapchat.

The phone was seized and examined and it had transpired he had been speaking to a 15-year-old girls in August last year asking ‘can you see me and you becoming boyfriend and girlfriend’ and suggested sleeping with her and ‘having babies’.

He had also made 13 indecent images of children of Category C, predominantly of girls between the ages of eight and 12.

Mr Rothwell told the court he was arrested on December 12 and made a ‘full admission’, but was released under investigation.

However in early April he had a ‘secret’ Nokia mobile to access a website called E-Chat with different chat rooms including ‘Just Sex’ and ‘Just Teens’.

Mr Rothwell said Williams accessed the site ‘Just Teens’ and started talking to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl, but was in fact an undercover police officer.

He was arrested in December last year and released under investigation.

The court heard how Williams instigated the conversation and suggested they communicated via Snapchat.

He also challenged her to a game of Truth or Dare and dared her to ‘get naked’.

Mr Rothwell added: “He persistently suggested she remove her clothes’.

In further messages from April 3 to April 7, Williams asked her for pictures, despite her confirming her age as 13 – and sent a picture of himself.

The court heard how investigations led police officers to his door on May 19, 2020, where he was ‘reminded about the conversation’ and asked to hand over the advice.

However he was ‘uncooperative’ and denied having any devices.

The court heard how his mum handed officers a phone after ‘wiping it back to factory settings’ as she discovered it had ‘things of concern’.

Defence counsel Maria Masselis said he accepted the offending was ‘serious’ enough to merit custody however, urged the judge to suspend the sentence.

He said: “In this case, there’s little to remove the unattractive nature of the offences.”

The court heard how the most serious aspect was his behaviour continuing ‘even after police bail’.

However Ms Masselis said prison would ‘not help’ Williams with the underlying causes and he would ‘come out with the same problems he goes in with’.

She added: “There are two ways to look at his behaviour. Were he to be older, you would perhaps see this behaviour in a more cynical light.

“Your honour hasn’t had the benefit of spending the amount of time with him as I have.

“It is abundantly clear his chronological age isn’t matched by his maturity or his emotional age.”

Ms Masselis said Williams was a ‘young man’ with learning difficulties who has ‘perhaps missed the net as it were’.

The court heard how the mitigation is ‘much more’ than his guilty pleas, as his candour went ‘above and beyond anything this court ordinarily sees’.

The barrister added: “It’s a typical response for a defendant to deny they have a sexual interest in children, to deny that that is the motivation behind downloading images. That’s not what we’re dealing with.”

The court heard how Williams sought support from the Lucy Faithful Foundation - a child protection charity dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse.

Ms Masselis said Williams admitted he has been attracted to ‘very young girls since he was school age’ and he ‘only acted upon it following a breakdown of an age appropriate relationship’.

She also described him as a ‘bit of a loner’ after struggling in school and has been ‘drifting since he left college’.

The court heard how Williams’ family believes his increase in medication has ‘improved’ his behaviour and that Williams is ‘absolutely terrified of going to prison’.

Judge Parry, said: “Your conduct towards young girls, whilst subject to a sexual harm prevention order was persistent and deliberate and you had no regard for that order, which was made to protect children.

Judge Parry said the public and young girls ‘can only be protected by immediate custody’.

For the offences in August and again in April Williams was sentenced to 12-months imprisonment to run concurrently.

Williams was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order for ten years which would replace the previous order.