Bolton Sex Offender Jailed

25 November 2011, 12:26 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A Bolton man who groomed a 14-year-old girl over the internet and then repeatedly had sex with her has been jailed.

Alexander Taylor was caught after an operation by Greater Manchester Police to target online sex offenders.

Today the 34-year-old Taylor, of Chapman Street, was sentenced to seven years in prison and has also been put on the sex offenders register for life.

Following a five day trial, Taylor was convicted of meeting a girl under 16 following sexual grooming, inciting
a girl aged 13 to 15-years-old to engage in sexual activity, six counts of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 15-years-old and attempting to meet a girl following sexual grooming.

In November 2009, Taylor thought he was using the Internet to chat to a 14-year-old girl, however, it was in fact an undercover police officer who had set up a fake profile.

The pair began chatting online on 17 November 2009, and within ten minutes of communicating Taylor began to sexualise the conversation. They agreed to meet up to have sex on 10 December 2009 but when Taylor turned up at the agreed venue, police officers from Greater Manchester Police Force Sexual Crime Unit were waiting for him.

When his Bolton home was searched, officers seized his computer which was examined by the High Tech Crime Unit.

A number of email addresses were recovered and the users contacted. Officers discovered in July 2009 that
he had befriended a genuine 14-year-old girl using a social networking site.

The relationship had then escalated with Taylor sexualising the conversations and they swapped mobile phone numbers, eventually agreeing to meet up in West Yorkshire where the girl was from.

The pair met seven times and had sex six times between July 2009 and November 2009 when the young girl ended the relationship.

In December 2009, after his arrest by GMP, Taylor called her and said if the police contacted her about anything she should not tell them what they had done.

Detective Constable Laura Dixon, from the Force's Sexual Crime Unit, said:

"Taylor's propensity for young girls is clear.

"Having already used the Internet to groom and then have sex with a girl he knew full well was underage, he continued to use these chat rooms and was prepared to travel to meet what he thought was another 14-year-old girl. This time however, police were waiting for him.

"Sadly, there are people like Taylor who are out there who abuse the Internet to groom young children and manipulate them into having a sexual relationship. However, I hope this case illustrates that Greater Manchester Police does monitor these chat rooms and anyone found grooming young children will be arrested and put before the courts.

"Taylor's sentence should act as a deterrent for anyone that uses the Internet with the intention of preying on children because you never know who you are talking to. It could be one of our officers and if so, you, like Taylor, will be going
to prison.

"I would urge parents and children to take steps to ensure their safety on the internet, particularly with the use of MSN and other chat networks. A number of instant messaging and social networking sites now have access to an emergency internet safety button which takes users to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), where suspicious behaviour can be reported."