A ‘LONELY’ paedophile who told 13-year-old ‘girls’ that he wanted to kiss, cuddle and hold them has walked free from court.

Philip Hollingsworth also encouraged ‘Maisie’ to perform sex acts on herself and asked her if he could be her secret boyfriend.

He even told who he believed was a young teen that she made him have ‘naughty thoughts’.

But these ‘girls’ were actually an undercover police officer and a member of a paedophile hunting group.

Hollingsworth appeared before Chester Crown Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to attempting to incite a 13-year-old to engage in sexual activity and two counts of an adult attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child.

The offences took place in 2019 while the 59-year-old was living in a houseboat in Lymm, but he was forced to relocate after vigilante group, Soul Survivors, tracked him down.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Hollingsworth was using a profile under the name of ‘Dave Barker’ but used his real location, Warrington, and real age at the time which was 55.

Prosecuting, Jayne Morris said that an undercover police officer created a fake social media account under the name of Maisie.

Maisie’s account included photographs of her and included her details – that she was 13 and from London.

The defendant messaged the decoy under his fake profile, and he told her that he had been looking at her profile and that she was ‘beautiful’.

Ms Morris explained that the conversation between the pair went on for over two months and in this time, Hollingsworth asked the teen if he could be her ‘secret boyfriend’.

He told her she is ‘stunning’, that she is making him have ‘naughty thoughts’ and that she turns him on.

Warrington Guardian:

Chester Crown Court

The charge of ‘attempting to incite a teen to engage in sexual activity’ was formed when Hollingsworth, now of Dorchester Park, Runcorn, encouraged Maisie to perform sex acts on herself, explaining how to do this and telling her how she could ‘orgasm’.

The court was told how Maisie then asked Hollingsworth to leave her alone and after a couple of attempts he did.

Commenting on this particular offence, judge Steven Everett said that although Hollingsworth’s actions were ‘very wrong’, it was ‘inappropriate’ of the undercover police officer to have been ‘encouraging’ a reaction at times.

Hollingsworth’s next offence took place after Maisie asked him to stop contacting her.

This is when he approached who he thought was another 13-year-old girl called Shelley.

But this time, ‘Shelley’ was a decoy and was actually a member of the paedophile hunting group.

Ms Morrison told the court how throughout the pair’s communications, which lasted 32 days, Shelley repeatedly told the defendant her age and birthday.

He sent her photographs of himself and of his boat where he lived at the time and requested pictures back.

The adult controlling the account replied with pictures of ‘Shelley’ which were photographs of her daughter when she was a child.

Hollingsworth called her ‘beautiful’ and ‘gorgeous’ and said he wanted to kiss and cuddle her.

Members of Soul Survivors approached the paedophile’s family posing as private detectives and Hollingsworth was alerted so moved his boat before they could locate him.

Hollingsworth, who was no previous convictions, was arrested in May 2019 where he admitted the offences.

Defending, Jeremy Rawson told the court how Hollingsworth has a ‘difficult’ background after a tough end to his career which led to him taking voluntary retirement and ‘drinking heavily’.

He also said at the time his client was ‘lonely’.

The court heard how Hollingsworth’s sentencing was shy of a three-year delay due to the police handling of the case and that this should be taken into account as a mitigating factor.

Mr Rawson said: “A man of his age has now lost his good name.”

The court also heard how although they were ‘wrong’, the conversations were not the ‘worst type’ and that at times he was responding to encouragement given.

Concluding, judge Everett claimed the offences which involved ‘grooming behaviour’ were ‘very wrong’ but that in his judgement, Hollingsworth was ‘wrongly too enthusiastically encouraged’ by the police officer posing as Maisie at times.

Before handing him a suspended sentence, judge Everett said: “This is a chance to actively improve that you can now adapt overcome and change – and appreciate just how wrong this was.”

Hollingsworth was handed a 16-month prison sentenced suspended for two years.

He was also issued a sexual harm prevention order for a ten-year period and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for ten years.