A repeat offender has been jailed for making online sexual advances to who he thought was a 12-year-old girl.
Jonsen Lamb, now 26, was actually chatting with an undercover police officer in April this year.
Carlisle Crown Court heard today that an external law enforcement agency flagged up concerns about an online profile which, it transpired, belonged to Lamb.
An undercover operative posed online as a 12-year-old girl, activating a profile which contained an image of a youngster.
On April 23, Lamb made contact and, despite it being made clear the girl was more than half his age, he made a series of sexual suggestions, sent explicit still and moving images, asked for pictures to be sent to him and also asked about the pair meeting up.
After two days of online exchanges, the operative terminated their chat. Lamb, of Low Seaton, near Workington, was arrested and surrendered a phone on which police found the illegal message thread after he provided the device PIN.
When brought to court, Lamb admitted attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.
He also pleaded guilty to a third offence, having breached sex offender notification requirements by failing to keep police up to date with personal information.
Lamb had been subject to notification requirements since April 2021, when he was given a community punishment and ordered to undergo rehabilitation work for previous sexualised online chat with a decoy he believed was a child.
During today’s sentencing hearing, Marion Weir, mitigating, drew Judge Michael Fanning’s attention to a probation officer’s pre-sentence report. It made reference to Lamb’s immaturity, poor social communication skills and that he was still coming to terms with an autism diagnosis.
Lamb had completed previous court-imposed rehabilitation work and remained offence-free for a time. But, earlier his year, he reverted back to what the prosecution called carbon copy offending amid struggles and stresses in his life.
Judge Fanning took Lamb’s mitigation into account but observed: “Also at the forefront of my mind is the nature of your offending and the risk that you pose.”
He concluded Lamb was a pretty dangerous young man who posed a high risk to children.
Lamb was given an immediate 20-month prison sentence. He will remain subject to sex offender notification requirements for 10 years.
