“If you had a kid sister you wouldn’t want someone a decade older behaving like this towards her"
A young man who tried to persuade a 12-year-old girl to send him intimate images of her exposing herself has avoided going to prison.
Matthew Munns, who was arrested after the girl’s father found his messages on her phone, had first contacted the girl via Instagram and knew how old she was when asking for images.
And when he was arrested he told police: "I f***** up big time.”
Munns, 23, of Lower Hillmorton Road, Rugby, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
He was sentenced to 20 months in prison suspended for two years and ordered to take part in the sex offenders’ programme.
And Judge Peter Cooke also ordered him to take part in a rehabilitation activity and to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Sentencing Munns, Judge Cooke told him: “What you did was disgraceful, but you know that.
“Like a lot of young men in the 21st century you have been living a computer-drive, internet-driven substitute for a real social life.
“Too many people of your age are living a virtual life, and for some people it leads down rabbit holes of behaviour which are unhealthy and sometimes illegal.
“If you had a kid sister you wouldn’t want someone a decade older behaving like this towards her.
“You have done a good deal to face up to it already, and the author of the pre-sentence report has made a very sensible suggestion.
“The offending was nearly two years ago and you have stayed out of trouble, having had this warning, and you had never been in trouble before.
“There is no reason why you can’t emerge from this and put it behind you and get on with your life.”
Posted: Thu May 27, 2021 4:27 pm