Peterborough paedophile jailed after sending sexual messages to young girl

Scott Gaunt, 35, of Williamson Avenue, Peterborough, messaged the girl between 25 November and 17 December last year.

During this time, Gaunt spoke sexually to the young girl and encouraged her to perform sex acts on herself.

At the start of the conversation, Gaunt told the girl he was 24. She replied that he was double her age, and he told her his mum “would probably kill him” if she found out they were talking.

Intelligence was submitted to police that the IP address used in the chat linked back to an internet account in Gaunt’s name.

A warrant was carried out at his house on 18 January and Gaunt was arrested on suspicion of attempting to cause or incite a child under 13 to engage in penetrative sexual activity.

Several devices belonging to him were seized and submitted for forensic analysis, but were found to have no illegal files on them.

In police interview, Gaunt admitted being the author of the messages and knew that he was talking to a child. He told officers he knew that what he said to her was wrong.

Gaunt admitted the offence at Peterborough Crown Court on 18 August.

He was sentenced to 28 months behind bars at Cambridge Crown Court last week.

DC Scott Bowden, who investigated, said: “It’s clear Gaunt poses a risk to children and his behaviour was completely inappropriate towards a 12-year-old girl.

“Using the internet to target young and vulnerable girls will not be tolerated and thankfully Gaunt was stopped and arrested.

“Protecting young people from harm is one of our top priorities and we will continue to work tirelessly to keep our communities safe.”

Gaunt was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years, and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for the same timeframe.