Peterborough sex offender tricked woman into sending him intimate photos on dating website

Jack Smith, (25), told officers he started the deceptive practice, known as ‘catfishing’, because he was depressed and he got a thrill out of posing as a woman.

Smith, who is a registered sex offender, failed to tell police he was using an alias on the website, breaching the requirements of the sex offenders register.

He created an account on the dating website Plenty of Fish under the pseudonym Charlotte Unwin and struck up a conversation with the victim, a woman in her 20s, in January last year.

After the victim sent intimate images, Smith became abusive and threatened to send the images to her family. He then cut contact with her, but eventually resumed his campaign of abusive and threatening messages in September (2018).

Officers carrying out routine checks as part of his management as a registered sex offender found the messages and he was arrested in February.

Smith’s phone was seized and officers found he had deleted the internet search history on his mobile phone, breaching the requirements of his sexual harm prevention order.

Smith, of Drayton, Bretton, Peterborough, admitted charges of sending threatening messages, breaching a sexual harm prevention order and failing to comply with sex the offenders’ register.

He was jailed yesterday (16 September) at Peterborough Crown Court.

DC John Whitworth said: “Smith used deceptive tactics to target innocent members of the public looking for love online. His actions caused a tremendous amount of stress to the victim, who had no idea she was speaking to a man.

“Hopefully this sentence will serve as a deterrent to others thinking about abusing people online.”