Married Coventry man, 47, who sought sex with 12-year-old girl jailed

A married Coventry man should have considered he had had a lucky escape when he turned up to meet a 12-year-old girl for sex, only to find she had apparently stood him up



But rather than coming to his senses, Steven Cardwell continued to send sexually-charged messages to her as he arranged a further rendezvous.

And this time the person he had been communicating with did appear – not a 12-year-old girl, but a male police officer who arrested him, Warwick Crown Court has heard.

Cardwell (47) of Abercorn Road, Chapelfields, Coventry, was jailed for two years and eight months and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

He had pleaded guilty to charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.

Jailing Cardwell, Judge Peter Cooke told him: “You are a hard-working man, and until now you have been a blameless citizen.

“This is a bad case of its type. There are, of course, genuine mitigating factors in your case including genuine remorse, and I accept you were sick to your stomach at what you did.

“But try as I might, I don’t think I can bring the starting point for these offences down to below four years.

“I will bring that down for your guilty pleas to 32 months, but that is too long to be suspended.”

32 months??? Lucky for some of these kiddy fiddlers that I wasn't clever enough to become a judge.It was smart that the child sent a copper instead of turning up herself.