A child sex offender opened a Vinted account under a fake name and sent sexualised messages to users of the platform, a court has heard. Simon Fuge's activities came to light after monitoring software installed on his phone flagged concerning messages to police, who were then able to access the device remotely.
Swansea Crown Court heard that the popular clothes buying and selling platform has been in the news in recent weeks over concerns that children are being groomed on the app.
Breach of court order
Brian Simpson, prosecuting, told the court that in 2018 the defendant was made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order following a conviction for engaging in sexual activity with a child. The conditions of the order included him not having unsupervised contact with under-18s and not using social media apps in other names. He said that as part of the defendant's management arrangements in the community, monitoring software was installed on his phones.
The court heard that in December last year the software alerted police about Fuge's use of the Vinted app, and as a result officers were able to remotely access his devices, which showed he was having sexual contact with a fellow user - including discussing his penis - but that no offences were recorded.
Further online enquiries
As a result of concerns, police carried out further enquiries into Fuge's online activities and found sexual messages on the WhatsApp messaging app, though there was no evidence the person he was talking to was a child. The court heard that on February 28 this year officers went to the defendant's home in Llanelli, but it took "some time" for him to answer their knocks on his door.
When they were allowed inside the property, the officers seized his phones and examined them, but the conversations police had previously seen remotely were not on the devices. The prosecutor said police suspected that the delay in 46-year-old Fuge answering the door had been the defendant deleting the incriminating chats.
The court heard that police did, however, find other chats Fuge had had on the Vinted app, including one which began about clothes with someone claiming to be 16, during which the defendant asked the unknown seller about "JO", which police believed was a reference to "jerking off". Police also found that Fuge had had a previous Vinted account - in the name of Levi2025MonekyBoy - cancelled by the platform due to multiple reports of concerns about messages he had been sending.
Sentencing
In his subsequent interview, the defendant denied having any contact with children and said Vinted was an adult-only site and he had used it to buy and sell clothes. Simon Fuge, of Ty Stafford, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to attempted breach of a sexual harm prevention order, and breaching a sexual harm prevention order when he returned to the dock for sentencing.
The court heard that in 2018 the defendant was sentenced to 54 months in prison for causing a child to engage in sexual activity. That offending had seen Fuge create a fake Facebook profile of a teenage girl in order to lure a schoolboy into sexual activity with him. After tricking the boy, the defendant posed as a friend of the non-existent girl and spent weeks grooming the victim - including buying him sweets and a trip to the cinema - before performing a sex act on him.
Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said while it was accepted the breach was deliberate, there was no evidence the defendant had been in contact with anyone under 16 and said there had been no attempt to meet. He said Vinted had been in the news recently over concerns that youngsters were being groomed on the app, but said the platform had an over-18s policy for users, and said Fuge had used the platform legitimately to buy and sell clothes.
The barrister said the defendant's life had not been easy since moving back to Llanelli following his release from custody, but he said references before the court from neighbours and friends who know of his background spoke well of Fuge. He said the breach before the court was the first breach of the order since its imposition in 2018.
Judge Huw Rees told Fuge that due to the "attractive submissions" of his barrister he would not be sending him to prison immediately. However, the judge warned the defendant that he needed to be careful in his online activities as the police would be monitoring him closely. The judge said as the sentence which was due was one of less than 12 months in length, he was obliged by law to suspend it unless there were exceptional circumstances.
With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas, Fuge was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to complete an accredited programme, and a probation requirement. The judge said it was to be hoped that rehabilitation would be successful in stopping Fuge from engaging in "poisonous and harmful" conduct.
