Wales paedophile sentenced after travelling to North East to meet 9-year-old

A convicted paedophile travelled from Wales to the North East to meet a child for sex and groomed another child online has now been sentenced.

39-year-old Shem Jones, travelled to the North East to meet a 9-year-old child, whose mother he had been chatting to online.

What he didn’t know was that he was actually speaking with an undercover officer from the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU).

The NEROCU officer and Jones exchanged countless messages discussing his intentions to involve them in a child sex ring. He also sent indecent photos and videos of other children.

Officers from NEROCU quickly launched a specialist operation, to bring Jones into custody.

Jones travelled from his home in Wales to the North East on June 12 of last year. He travelled seven hours to meet the child, and once he was identified at the meeting point, he was swiftly arrested by officers.

Once arrested, the investigation was then taken over by Northumbria Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT). Jones was quickly charged with arranging the commission of a child sex offence and three counts of distributing indecent images of a child. He was remanded in custody.

The team compiled an extensive and robust case file to present at court. As part of their investigation, Jones was found to be in possession of other indecent videos of a child he had made himself. The child was quickly identified and spoken to by specialist officers, revealing that Jones had met them online before meeting them on a number of occasions.

Jones was subsequently indicted on a further seven offences of engaging in sexual activity with a child, meeting a child following sexual grooming and three offences of taking an indecent image of a child, and a further three offences of making an indecent image of a child. The examination of his laptop uncovered over 400 images of child abuse and illegal imagery.

Jones, of Wind Street, Llandysul, Credigion, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on October 5 and pleaded guilty to all charges. Yesterday, (Wednesday December 21), he appeared at the same court, and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order for his despicable actions.

Detective Constable Jane Marley, from POLIT said: “This is another fantastic result which reinforces our commitment to protecting all children from predators like Jones.

“Jones had vile plans to build a business around the sexual exploitation of a child and was actively engaged in the sexual abuse of children he had groomed online.  Thankfully he is now safely behind bars.  I would like to commend the bravery of the victim in disclosing the abuse Jones had subjected her to.

“We will continue to work with our partners to tackle online child abuse and sexual exploitation and would urge anyone who has been a victim of this type of offending, or has concerns about someone’s behaviour, to come forward and talk to us.”

If you have concerns about child abuse or want to report a crime, you can contact Northumbria Police via the Tell Us Something page of their website or by calling 101.