A registered Tunbridge Wells Paedophile sex offender, Peter Johnson, has been apprehended for utilising a fraudulent online profile in efforts to groom and exploit a kid.
Peter Johnson has been incarcerated after disregarding prior court mandates designed to deter him from reoffending and subsequently targeted a teenage girl over multiple days.
Peter Johnson, previously identified as Peter Austen, was sentenced in 2017 for possessing obscene pictures of minors. For these acts, he was issued a suspended sentence and placed on the sex offender registry for a duration of 10 years.
In October 2023, officers from Kent Police’s Offender Management Unit ascertained that Peter Johnson had been utilising the social media app Snapchat under the pseudonym Matt Harper.
Peter Johnson had been contacting another user who told him she was only 13 and sent her a series of explicit images over several days, which included videos of himself.
Under the guise of Matt Harper, he also sent voice messages and images of himself fully clothed.
Unbeknown to Peter Johnson, the child did not exist – her profile was part of a fictitious account. Some of the images he sent showed his face, and officers were able to recognise him as Peter Johnson.
Peter Johnson was arrested on 15 November at his home near Liptraps Lane.
A phone was seized, and checks led to the discovery of an illegal image of a child, in the most serious category.
Peter Johnson, 37, was charged with engaging in sexual communication with a child, causing a child to engage in a sexual act, causing a child to view an image of sexual activity, making an indecent image of a child and failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements.
Peter Johnson pleaded guilty, and on 10 October 2024, Johnson was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to three years’ imprisonment, having already served almost a year on remand.
When he has served his sentence, Peter Johnson will be subject to a 12-year sexual harm prevention order and will have to comply with sex offender notification requirements, for life.
Detective Constable Steph Kirkin said:
‘Peter Johnson made persistent and repeated efforts to contact a child for the purposes of his own gratification. He made it explicitly clear that he intended to commit very serious sexual offences involving a young girl.‘We will do everything in our power to proactively target people who seek to commit sexual offences against children and ensure they receive a prison sentence. It is clear Johnson poses a risk to the public, and he now faces the consequences of his abhorrent desires
‘This case also acts as a reminder to parents of children who have mobile phones and tablets to speak to them and help them understand the precautions they should take when using the internet, or the many instant messaging services that are available.’Children should only communicate with people that they know personally and report any suspicions or inappropriate advances from strangers to their parents, schools or the police.’
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