‘Prolific’ internet groomer jailed
A man, described by police as Britain’s most prolific internet groomer yet, has been jailed for five years.
Douglas Lindsell, 64, had contacted over 50 young girls though internet chatrooms whilst posing as a teenage boy. He built up a factfile of the young girls, including details about their appearance, likes and dislikes and personal details such as their bra size and underwear.
Lindsell also arranged to meet two of the young girls (13 and 14) and attempted to entice them into his car. The two girls ran off when they realised his age and police believe they came within a hair breath of being abducted.
Lindsell was ‘obsessive’ in his desire to meet young girls the police said, even to the extent of trying to contact them by a cable television after the police had confiscated his computer.
The court convicted him of attempted abduction, possession of indecent photographs of children, incitement to gross indecency with a girl under 16 and attempting to pervert the course of justice. The last charge relates to his attempts to persuade his victims to delete emails and text messages after he was arrested by the police.
In addition to the prison sentence Lindsell has also been placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and barred from working in any professions that brings him into contact with children under 16.
