A POWYS man found “unequivocally” guilty of child sex offences has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

A judge at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Thursday, September 12, told Gareth Morgan Jones that mitigating factors such as his mental health issues fell “within a whisker” of her being able to hand him a suspended custodial sentence.

The 64-year-old, from Newbridge-on-Wye, previously denied five offences, including sexually communicating with underage teenage girls and attempting to engage them in sexual activity, but he was found guilty of all five at his trial, held in August.

The offences occurred in the summer of 2021 and included Jones communicating with three girls who told him they were aged either 12 or 13. In fact, they were adults posing as children in online chat rooms.

Jones sent sexually explicit images of his genitals and requested naked pictures of the girls.

Prosecutor Alice Sykes said that during his trial, Jones, of Llwyncelyn, Newbridge, attempted to convince the jury he was engaging in “fantasy or role play” and that he knew his conversations were with decoys, but this was rejected.

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Ms Sykes said his chats involved him asking two of the girls to engage in sexual activity and solicitation of images of themselves.

She said Jones had five previous convictions for 11 offences.

Kathryn Lane, representing Jones, said she was grateful to the judge for indicating that she would suspend any period of imprisonment.

Judge Vanessa Francis told Jones these were “extremely serious” offences but that the people he was trying to commit offences with didn’t exist, so it fell into the realm of attempted sexual communication and incitement.

“The sentence falls within a whisker of me being able to suspend it. His mental health issues put me in this position,” said Judge Francis.

“Three different individuals all told you they were children. During chats with two of them, you incited the girls to penetrate themselves; you also solicited sexual photos and sent photographs to one of them.

“I listened to your evidence in court and I appreciate you are a man who has never been involved in any type of sexual offending, nor any offending against children.

“This occurred relatively soon after lockdown, your own medical vulnerabilities meant you’d been at home alone, isolated.

“You turned to online chat rooms as your only window to the world.

“You are someone who is struggling to come to terms with what you did. There is some degree of refusal to accept your guilt, which is about the shame and inability to accept what you did.

“The jury found you guilty unequivocally and quickly. This was aggravated by there being more than one child, the fact there was a significant gap between the age of the child and you, and also by your previous convictions, even though they’re of some age and not similar.

“My view is that your mental health issues are a significant mitigating feature.

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“It is realistic to say someone who’d done this to a child would see their sentence fall around the four-year mark. But you never hinted at a real-life meeting.

“There is a realistic prospect you will work with probation, so you do not do this again.

“This is the chance I’m going to give you. I won’t give you another one.”

Jones was jailed for two years for the two incitement offences, suspended for two years – this is both the maximum length for which a suspended sentence can be issued and suspended.

Terms of six months and four months for the other offences were also suspended and will be served concurrently.

Jones will undertake 40 rehabilitation activity days. Judge Francis said: “This is rather longer than the probation service suggested but you have a lot of work to do.”

Jones will adhere to a curfew for one-month at his home, between 10pm and 6am. He will also have to register as a sex offender and be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.