A 28-year-old man who persistently contacted girls on Facebook and tried to meet them for sex has been jailed for three years and nine months.
Michael Kinnear, of Broughton Street in Beeston, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court today (Friday February 23).
He pleaded guilty to eight counts of child sexual offences – five counts of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, one count of sexual activity with a child and one count of meeting a child following sexual grooming.
He was also sentenced for one count of sexual assault on a vulnerable adult relating to an incident in Derbyshire.
In addition to his prison sentence, Kinnear was made subject of a sexual harm prevention order and must sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
Detective Constable Paul Clark, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We have been working on this case for a number of years.
“Kinnear is a dangerous individual with an extremely concerning sexual interest in children.
“We are pleased that we’ve been able to gather enough evidence to put him behind bars and on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life which will prevent him from harming any more children.
“We’d like to thank the local community for their assistance and praise the victims and their families for their bravery in working with us on this case.
“I would also like to give thanks to the Broxtowe South Neighbourhood Police Team whose diligent approach to the information being passed from the community helped expose Kinnear’s offending and ultimately protect that community from an extremely dangerous individual.”
From late 2014, Kinnear contacted five girls aged between 12 and 15 over Facebook.
He invited some of them to his house for parties where he plied them with alcohol, knowing how old they were and pretending he was 16 himself.
He provided others with cigarettes and gifts and outrightly asked them to meet him for sex and one of the girls, who was 14, stayed over at his house and was subjected to sexual activity.
Further evidence which came to light led to Kinnear pleading guilty to arranging to meet a further three girls for sex knowing they were under age.
An investigation was launched in 2015 after officers had been gathering intelligence and monitoring Kinnear for a number of months.
Five victims were identified spanning between 2014 and 2016.
