Reading Crown Court: Newbury man Ian De-Melvin who wanted to meet 13-year-old for sex is jailed

A MIDDLE-aged Newbury man who offered to a buy a 13-year-old girl a £20 top in exchange for sex has been jailed.

Ian De-Melvin later tried to lure a 14-year-old girl he also met in an internet chatroom to a hotel for sex.

But, unknown to the 52-year-old, he was not really chatting to vulnerable youngsters.

Instead, he was caught in an undercover police operation.

At a sentencing hearing at Reading Crown Court today (Tuesday) prosecutor Jonathan Sank said De-Melvin had used internet chatrooms to try to engage children in sexualised chat.

In the case of the supposed 13-year-old, De-Melvin offered to buy her a new £20 top in exchange for sexual favours, gradually upping his offer to £40 if she would let him have penetrative sex.

Mr Sank added: "She said she was 13; he said he was 'cool' with that."

To try to ensure he was really talking to a child, De-Melvin, a former pupil at The Downs School in Compton, insisted she send him a voice message, which the undercover officer duly did.

Encouraged, said Mr Sank, "there were discussions about her being in school uniform; he said, 'yes, wear it'."

When the 'girl' said she did not want to have full sex in case she got pregnant, De-Melvin broke off contact... then tried his luck elsewhere.

The court heard he next targeted 'Jay' who, he believed, was a 14-year-old girl.

Mr Sank said: "He asked her: 'You won't tell your parents? I could get into serious trouble...'"

The court heard that when De-Melvin was told she lived in Newcastle, he tried searching for hotels in the area.

But when the undercover officer, posing as Jay, asked what kind of car he drove, De-Melvin backed off.

On being arrested, the court heard, he answered "no comment" to police questions.

Nevertheless, he admitted two offences of trying to communicate sexually with a child between October 18 and October 30, 2020 and again between June 2 and June 19 last year.

He also has previous convictions for unrelated offences.

The court heard a pre-sentence report suggested De-Melvin was lacking insight and empathy, being chiefly concerned with his own bad luck in getting caught.

It suggested he posed a "high risk of serious harm to children".

Philip Allman, defending, said his partner had written a positive character reference, along with his employer.

He added: "Details of his offending were published in the local paper and to say that has caused disruption in his life is, perhaps, an understatement."

Mr Allman suggested his client had suffered because he was self isolating during the period of offending, and felt he had no one to talk to and wanted "someone to talk to who wouldn't judge him".

He accepted that reports suggested De-Melvin lacked any sympathy for victims of child sex abuse but added: "He did say to me: 'To think someone could have done this to my [young child] is terrifying' so he has expressed some empathy to me."

Mr Allman said that to jail his client would only add to his feeling of "self pity" and would not help with rehabilitation.

But Judge Kirsty Real said only an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate.

She jailed De-Melvin for six months, half of which he will spend in custody and the remainder on licence in the community.

In addition, De-Melvin was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and has already been required to sign on the Sex Offenders Register.

Judge Real told him: "That is all. You may go down."