Oliver Hart, 25, spent four months texting and sending pictures to who he thought was a 12-year-old girl called Amelia. Prosecutor, Rachel Standish, told Bournemouth Crown on August 16 that Hart would call the child ‘beautiful’ and ask her to send pictures of herself. Before his arrest in March 2023, the defendant sent 51 pictures of himself to the girl including 16 with his bare chest.
Hart would tell the girl he was masturbating and in turn ask her to perform sex acts on herself. On one occasion the defendant asked who the oldest person the ‘12-year-old’ had slept with and when she said no one, he said he would teach her. Dorset Police received intel on Hart’s communications from the national crime agency, who were posing as the child.
The court heard that the defendant had previously been given a caution in 2020 for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child in 2018. In his recent police interview, Hart admitted the office and said he knew it was wrong because he had been through this before. However, he denied gaining any sexual gratification from the messages.
Police later found indecent images of children on Hart’s devices including 21 category A, five category B and four category C. Officers also found one extreme pornographic image involving a person and an animal. Ms Standish said the defendant is of previous good character before the offences.
A probation report read that Hart has been engaging with the steps to wellbeing team and a psychi.