Man blames his cocaine habit as he is jailed over sex messages to decoy '13-year-old girl' - judge says case should have been sent to a higher court

Barry Richard Smyth, of Ballyutoag Road in the Nutts Corner area of Co Antrim, accepted he committed the offence on June 16 last year and pleaded guilty and said he was "disgusted at himself," Ballymena Magistrates' Court was told.

A prosecutor said police received a report from an "online child safety team" that the defendant had sent "inappropriate messages" to a decoy pretending to be a 13-year-old girl.

The defendant claimed he was a 16-year-old.

He sent sexually explicit messages on WhatsApp.

When arrested he admitted sending messages but claimed he did not know she was 13 as he was "on cocaine at the time".

He committed other offences. On February 4 this year he had taken a vehicle without authority and had driven whilst unfit, whilst disqualified and without insurance. He had taken cocaine.

A police helicopter located the car driving at Ballyhill Road and showed him hiding in an outbuilding.

He also pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to a padlock, door mechanism, and a window cage at a building site at Dunadry on October 5 last year. Swabs taken by crime scene investigators matched the defendant.

He told police he had fallen out with his partner and, after going for a walk, attempted to find somewhere to sleep.

A defence barrister said cocaine had been a "demon" in the defendant's life.

The defendant was "extremely ashamed" at the decoy offence.

His defence lawyer said: "He didn't shy away with police in the fact that he had sent the messages. He accepted it was him on the phone, it must have been him, that he was taking between £200 to£300 of cocaine every day and such was his state of mind that he could not recall much of this. It is something that he will have to live with for the rest of his life".

The barrister said there had been no previous similar convictions and it had been an "isolated" incident.

District Judge Natasha Fitzsimons said the defendant "had to have known" what he had been doing.

She said it was "very serous offending regardless of whether or not it is a decoy".

The judge said it was "just by the grace of God it is a decoy and not an actual child".

Judge Fitzsimons said prosecutors should take all such cases to the Crown Court and not to the Magistrates' Court, where sentencing limits are lower.

The defendant was jailed for five months and has been put on the Sex Offender Register for five years. A Sexual Offences Prevention Order was also put in place for five years.

The defendant, who has a "horrific" driving record, was also banned from the roads for three years.