Ex-RAF man caught trying to groom children by paedophile vigilante group
The pensioner pretended to be a 16-year-old boy when he encouraged the fictitious girl to send pictures of herself
A FORMER RAF fighter has escaped jail after he was snared by paedophile hunters pretending to be a 14-year-old girl.
Twisted Charles Joy, 65, exchanged sexual messages with the vigilante group believing he was speaking to a teen girl called Jess.
The ex-RAF serviceman, who posed as a 16-year-old boy, told the group: “I’m not bothered if you’re 14 or 20.”
He also sent the fictitious girl sexually explicit photos of himself and encouraged her to do the same.
The creep also suggested the fake teen log onto porn sites before he was confronted by paedophile hunters Internet Interceptors in April last year.
Joy admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity.
He escaped jail and was instead given a sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offenders’ register for five years.
Teesside Crown Court heard how first offender Joy served in the RAF Regiment for seven years with tours in the Persian Gulf, Belfast and Cyprus before medical discharge as a Senior Aircraftsman.
The perv, from Stockton, has been left with his life in tatters after he lost his job, wife, children and grandchildren, the court was told.
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Damian Sabino, defending, said: “He says he can’t justify it to himself.
“He’s lost most of those things one would hold dear in his life.
“His job as a fork lift truck driver, his family home, his wife, his children, his grandchildren and his good character and standing in the community.
“It’s hard to imagine his regret.”
He added Joy abandoned the “fantasy” himself, never arranged to meet anyone, stopped his behaviour and was never obsessed with it.
Joy, who was accompanied in court by a representative of the mental health charity Mind, has health and mobility problems.
Judge Stephen Ashurst said: “This is a case where your fall from grace has been very dramatic indeed.
“You’ve worked throughout your life. You were married for 40 years with two grown-up children. You had a good reputation. You served seven years in the armed forces.
“Since the discovery of your activity you’ve lost virtually everything.
“You’ve gone into a cycle of depression and you find yourself here in a criminal court utterly disgraced.
“The public humiliation and disgrace counts a great deal towards the necessary punishment."
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