Hyde man jailed for child grooming offences
Simon Hammerton was convicted of engaging in sexual communication with girls he believed to be as young as 11
A man has been jailed for more than five years after being convicted of grooming children as young as 11.
32-year-old Simon Hammerton of Auburn Avenue, Hyde has been jailed at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester to five years and four months imprisonment. He has also had a Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed.
Hammerton was jailed after pleading guilty to five counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and two counts of attempting to cause a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity.
Hammerton was arrested in July 2021 at Ashton-under-Lyne bus station after he had arranged to meet who he believed to be an 11-year-old girl after speaking to her online. After searching him at the bus station, officers found he was carrying a bag containing alcohol and a packet of condoms.
Subsequent enquiries, including the seizure of his laptops and mobile phones, uncovered that in June 2021 Hammerton had been speaking with two 'girls' from Leicestershire and Southampton who he believed were both 12-years-old.
During the conversations he would regularly tell them he wanted to kiss them and on one occasion encouraged one girl to send him photos of her in her school uniform or underwear.
Hammerton was also in contact with two other 'girls', one he believed to be 11 and the other he believed to be 13. During both conversations, Hammerton would speak sexually and sent them images and videos of him naked, including one video he sent to the 11-year-old girl of him masturbating and ejaculating. He also attempted to persuade her to send a video of her masturbating.
On the day of his arrest, Hammerton had arranged to meet the girl he believed to be 11 at Ashton bus station. When he arrived he was immediately placed under citizen's arrests and it was quickly revealed that the 'girls' he had been talking to were in fact adults posing as children.
Detective Constable Sue Masheter of the Phoenix Tameside CSE Team said:
"Child Sexual Exploitation takes place in many forms and in this case Hammerton engaged in online communications with what he believed were very young children, not sparing any thought for the lasting damage his actions could have.
"Unknown to Hammerton, the 'children' he thought he was communicating with were actually adults and thankfully we have now been able to remove a dangerous individual from our community and ensure that he is not able to inflict any further abuse.
"I would like to thank the members of the online safety group, namely STOP for their cooperation throughout this investigation."