Bolton man sent sexual messages to undercover police officer

Stephen Walker, 46, had messaged  the 'boy' who went by the name of 'James' in January 2022.

More than two years on, Bolton Crown Court heard how the undercover officer joined an online messaging platform and began posting having assumed the identity of a 12-year-old schoolboy.

Prosecutor David Bruce said: “He posted, ‘hi, I’m James, 12 UK, PMs cool.”

Dressed in a dark blue hooded coat, Walker looked on from the dock as Mr Bruce described how he had responded to the officer, he believed to be a child, under the username “Steve X.”

The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

Walker then started a conversation which included asking 'James' for pictures and asking if he defecated while in school.

Mr Bruce said: “He said that he found it ‘hot and sexy'.”

He then added 'James' as a friend on Facebook and asked: “I can trust you, can’t I?”

On January 13 that year Walker sent 'James' a message suggesting that he perform a sexual act while at a school.

Following his arrest Walker, of Meadowbank Road, Daubhill, pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a boy under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity.

He also pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communications with a child.

Mr Bruce said he “had to make allowances” for the fact that the apparent boy was in fact an adult police officer.

But he said: “one has to look at the intent.”

Paul Treble, defending, said that Walker deserved credit for having pleaded guilty and said that he now “deeply regrets” what he had done.

Mr Treble told the court that Walker was “feeling very lost” at the time.

He said: “There may have been some form of experimentation, talking to males and children.”

He added: “This is a person who has done a terrible thing, yes, or tried to but didn’t.”

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The Honorary Recorder for Bolton Judge Martin Walsh reminded the court that all the time Walker had been sending the messages, he believed they were being received by a schoolboy.

He said: “It was an offence that was in fact directed against a mature adult, though you believed it to be a 12-year-old boy.”

But Judge Walsh ruled that the public would be better protected by an order in force for the “maximum period of time.”

He sentenced Walker to a three-year community order, with 45 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 180 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Walsh also made him subject to a 10 year sexual harm prevention order.