John William Gay of Wilton Road, Shanklin has been sentenced to 3-and-a-half-years in prison after being found guilty of sexual offences involving children.
The 70-year-old pensioner was arrested at Woking Train Station on 20th December after a sting by Youtube user Shane Brannigan, also known as ‘noncehunter’. Gay was remanded in custody over Christmas and New Year before appearing at Guildford Crown Court in January, where he was once again remanded.
At the same court on Friday afternoon (18th March) the pensioner was found guilty of one count of attempting to meet a child under 16 following sexual grooming and 4 counts of possession of an indecent image of a child – offences he admitted. Despite denying the charge, he was also found guilty of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
The court heard how 70-year-old Gay had condoms in his bag when he was arrested by Police, alongside two mobile phones which were later discovered to contain indecent photos and videos of a child under the age of 11 – including videos deemed the most serious type.
Gay has been sentenced to a total of 42 months in prison – an 18 month sentence for the possession of incident images and two 2-year sentences to run concurrently for the other charges.
The judge ordered gay to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register and handed down a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, both of which are likely to run for the rest of his life.
Featured image: NonceHunter/Youtube
