The Newport Paedophile, Robert Mellon, solicited a “14-year-old schoolgirl” to transmit nude photographs of herself while bathing after initiating contact with her online.
Serial sex offender Robert Mellon believed he was communicating with a minor named Ella.
However, Robert Mellon was conversing with paedophile hunters Dank Dragon who were conducting a sting operation.
The 57-year-old individual from Newport, Robert Mellon, has experienced recurrent incarceration for over twenty years due to a series of offences.
Prosecutor Abigail Jackson informed Cardiff Crown Court that his most recent offence occurred this year between March and April.
The adolescent Robert Mellon believed he was communicating with on social media was a ruse, utilising a counterfeit profile image of a minor female.
His first message to her was: “Hi sexy!”
Miss Jackson said: “The defendant thought she was a 14-year-old girl from Cardiff.
“He asked her if she had a sexual boyfriend and the conversations carried on for a number of weeks.
“The defendant, Robert Mellon, asked Ella if she shaved her genitalia and he told her she was beautiful and sexy.”
She added: “He talked to her in detail about having sex and asked for some pictures of her naked when she was in the bath.
“The defendant thought he was speaking to an actual 14-year-old girl.”
Robert Mellon, of Church Road, Newport admitted attempting to breach a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
He has 14 previous convictions for 27 offences.
In 2011 he was convicted of three counts of sexual activity with a child under the age of 16 for which he was eventually jailed for breaching the community order imposed in that case.
Seven years later in 2018, he was sent to prison for 12 months for attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
In May 2021, Robert Mellon was locked up for 15 months for breaching an SHPO and attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child by arranging to meet a 14-year-old girl.
That was another paedophile hunter operation.
A year later in May 2022 he was jailed for 12 months for breaching an SHPO and again for 16 months in February 2023 for the same offence.
“This latest offending was a serious and persistent attempt to breach the order,” Miss Jackson told the court.
“It is aggravated by his prevention convictions.”
Harry Baker for Robert Mellon asked that his client be given full credit for his early guilty pleas.
Judge Paul Hobson told the defendant: “It is very plain to me that you are a paedophile whose sexual interest in children shows no sign of abating.”
Robert Mellon was jailed for 32 months and told he would serve half of that time in custody before being released.
Robert Mellon will have to register as a sex offender and made the subject of an SHPO indefinitely.
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