Nottinghamshire sex offender jailed after accidentally reporting himself to police
A sex offender from Nottinghamshire has been jailed after inadvertently reporting himself to the police.
A sex offender from Nottinghamshire has been jailed after inadvertently exposing his illicit behaviour to police.
Andrew Mayfield, from Farnsfield, called officers last September to report that he had been accused of sharing explicit images with a teenage boy and blackmailed as a result.
The 50-year-old handed his phone to officers to show an exchange of messages and images, some of which he had deleted in a bid to appear innocent.
He was then arrested on suspicion of engaging in sexual communication with a child and his phone was forensically examined. It displayed multiple indecent images of children.
He was released on conditional bail and instructed not to have any contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Despite this, he began exchanging explicit images with a person he believed to be a teenage boy.
In reality, he was messaging a member of an online activist group who confronted him at his home in November and called the police.
More explicit images were found on his phone to a boy who, despite not sharing his age, told him he was still in school.
Mayfield was then arrested for a third time in similar circumstances when he messaged who he believed was a 14-year-old boy, but it turned out to be another decoy.
He admitted a string of sex offences, including making an indecent photograph or a child and two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
Detective Sergeant Adam Taylor, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “For obvious reasons, most of the people we deal with try very hard not to have any contact with the police.
“Mayfield is unusual in that he made the decision to call us claiming to be the victim of a crime.
“In doing so, he inadvertently handed over damning evidence of his illegal online activities.
“Seemingly unphased by this first arrest, he then went on to commit two other serious sexual offences before he was remanded into custody.
“I am pleased he has now been held to account for his actions and hope this case serves as a warning to others about the potential consequences this kind of behaviour.
“Because we will find out about it, we will investigate and we will put you before the courts.”
Mayfield has been sentenced to 20 months in prison. He has also been added to the sex offenders' register and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, which will restrict his online activities and access to children in the future.
The court hear how he rarely left his home and his loneliness and poor mental health drove him to commit the offences.