Paedophile teacher tried to meet girl for sex

A former teacher caught by a vigilante group has been convicted of eight child sex offences.

Richard Cook sent sexual messages, images and videos to whom he thought were three girls aged between nine and 14.

The 48-year-old, formerly of Ipswich but now of Lambert Lane, East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, also attempted to meet who he thought was a13-year-old girl in Christchurch Park for “penetrative sex”.

At Ipswich Crown Court, Cook, who denied all the offences and claimed his phone must have been “repeatedly hacked”, wept as the jury returned its verdict after just 90 minutes. He was warned he would be jailed when sentenced next month.

The father-of-two was arrested in July 2019 after members of a paedophile-hunting vigilante group confronted him at his former home in Ipswich.

He was subsequently charged with attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and three counts of attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity.

He also faced a count of arranging or facilitating a sex act he intended to do, namely engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl under 16.

Cook was charged with three offences of making indecent images and videos of children in category A - the most serious level - category B and category C.

On the final day of his trial the court heard how Cook had corresponded with who he believed to be three school-age girls on messaging app Kik.

All three of the girls’ accounts, however, were actually being run by either an undercover police officer or civilians from the vigilante group.

During the chats, including one with a decoy account posing as a nine-year-old, Cook asked for photos of the youngsters in school uniforms.

He would also send them sexually explicit videos of other young girls and images of himself.

Cook denied sending the material to the girls and said he took the images and videos for his partner in a bid to “stimulate an otherwise waning love life”.

But prosecutor Nicola May said the evidence proved he “wanted to have penetrative, oral and full sex” with these girls, despite his claims he had been set up.

While referencing his attempt to meet with one of the girls in Ipswich, she added:

“He was also insistent on wanting to meet the girl and, if not for the intervention of the decoy group, he would have been meeting what he believed was a 13-year-old.

“There is clear evidence of a desire to perform penetrative sex with someone he thought was under the age of 16.”

Juliet Donovan, defending, had described Cook as “an intelligent man of good character” and questioned if he would “really risk it all" in such a self-destructive way”.

Cook, who previously worked as both a secondary and primary school teacher, was found guilty on all counts.

He was remanded in custody until a sentencing hearing on 25 October.

Addressing the defendant, Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley said: “I make it very clear that this will be a custodial sentence, Mr Cook.”

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