Andrew Bowes, a registered Balby Paedophile sex offender, has been incarcerated following an investigation by the Protecting Vulnerable People unit in Doncaster, after he planned to see an individual he believed to be an underage girl.
Andrew Bowes, 48, was apprehended on 1 September for engaging in communication with an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.
Andrew Bowes, of Oakwood Road, Balby, asked the ‘child’, who was actually a decoy from an online child activist group, to share indecent images of herself before suggesting they meet face-to-face.
After his arrest, a search of his phone led to the recovery of devices which showed the messages between Andrew Bowes and the decoy.
Andrew Bowes, who was handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in 2020, was jailed for three years at Sheffield Crown Court last Wednesday (25 September) after pleading guilty to three counts of breaching his SHPO, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence.
Investigations officer Fiona Booth, who was the officer in charge of this case, said:
“Andrew Bowes believed he was speaking to a 14-year-old child, and yet he continued to make inappropriate sexual advances.
“A thorough search of his devices led to his crimes being exposed and in comments made prior to his arrest, he was heard saying ‘I was only messing about’, which shows how little responsibility he took for his actions.
“Andrew Bowes posed a high level of risk and we are pleased he has been given an immediate three-year custodial sentence.
“We will continue investigating the crimes of sex offenders like Andrew Bowes to stop them in their tracks and to keep children safe from online sexual predators.”
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