An NSPCC manager was caught red-handed after attempting to meet up with a 14-year-old boy with the intention of engaging in sexual activity with him. When Leighton Camara turned up for the encounter in Rhyl, he was instead met by police officers.
Camara, of St Francis Close, Prestatyn, had been speaking over Snapchat with who he believed was a teenage boy. He was actually talking to an undercover police officer.
Undercover operation
At the time of the offending, the 38-year-old was working as a manager of an NSPCC helpline. He had also told police that he volunteered at a youth club.
The court was told by prosecutor Mark Connor that a serving law enforcement operative was posing as a boy aged 14 called Sam on the dating app Grindr, reports North Wales Live.
On November 15, 2023, the operative was contacted by the defendant who asked him how he was doing. Camara said he felt "horny" and lived in Prestatyn.
Sexualised messages
They switched their conversation to Snapchat with Camara adding the "boy" to his profile, the court heard. Despite the operative telling Camara he was 14, the messages became sexualised and Camara asked for an image of "Sam".
Camara asked the operative's whereabouts and asked for him to come over, "joking he was probably not allowed out", said Mr Connor. Camara told "Sam" he was a "hot lad" and if they met Camara would perform sex acts and "see what happened", the court heard.
Camara arranged to meet "Sam" at a location on Ffordd Derwen in Rhyl at 8.30pm on November 15, 2023. But Mr Connor said: "Police went to a car park (there) and arrested the defendant who had attended thinking he was meeting Sam."
Sentence and conditions
Camara later told police he thought Sam looked "16 to 18" from his photo and that "all he was going to do was to say hello". Camara also told police he was a manager of an NSPCC helpline and a volunteer at a youth group.
The defendant admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of an offence of sexual activity with a child. On September 24, a judge at Mold Crown Court told the 38-year-old he had come "incredibly close" to going straight to jail. Instead, Camara was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years.
The judge, His Honour Simon Mills, gave him the suspended sentence. The defendant had taken alcohol and cocaine which were concerning aspects of the case, he added. There was no separate penalty for possession of the Class A drug.
The judge made Camara the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and he was subject to sex offender notification requirements for ten years. He was ordered to go on the Building Better Choices course, do up to ten days of rehabilitation activity and wear an alcohol abstinence monitoring tag for 120 days.
"This is a sentence that will follow you for a long time," he said. "You have come incredibly close to immediate custody."
