A middle-aged former offshore medic has been sentenced for engaging in sex chats with what he thought was a 12-year-old girl, but which turned out to be an adult decoy.

Kevin Hill, 55, of Ashbank Close, Ripon, was working abroad when police turned up on his doorstep in September 2024, York Crown Court heard.

He was arrested at Teesside Airport on his return to the UK about a month later when police seized several of his devices including a laptop, mobile phones and hard drives, said prosecutor Kelly Clarke.

Analysis of the devices showed that Hill, who was married, had been engaging in Whatsapp chats with what he believed to be a 12-year-old girl.

Forensic officers also found 11 indecent images of children on his devices, including three rated Category A – the worst kind of such material.

Ms Clarke said that in September 2024, North Yorkshire Police were informed by a specialist regional crime unit that Hill had ben chatting online with a female adult decoy posing as a 12-year-old girl.

The sex chats began on the Chat IW platform and then moved onto Whatsapp. Hill’s online username was ‘CNT Destruction’. 

In the chats, which began on September 18, 2024, Hill asked the ‘girl’ to travel to his home in Ripon, so they could “engage in sexual activity”.

Ms Clarke added:

When the ‘girl’ told him she was 12 years’ old and would he “be okay with that”, Hill replied: “Yes, as long as you are willing to go for it.”

The court heard that although Hill had made these arrangements, there was never any likelihood he would meet the ‘child’ because she was fictional and he immediately disengaged from the chats after he made the proposition.

Eleven days later, on September 29, a detective constable turned up at Hill’s home in Ripon, but he had already left to get a flight from Teesside Airport to his work as a medic on offshore rigs.

However, having been informed that police were looking for him, Hill called them at 10am that day “asking why they had attended his home”.

The detective constable told him they would explain on his return to the country about a week later.

When he returned to the UK on November 6, Hill was arrested at Teesside Airport where they seized his mobile phone. He was taken in for questioning at Harrogate Police Station.

He admitted to officers that he had been engaging in the online chats and was duly charged with attempted sexual communication with a child. It was charged as an attempt because it was an adult decoy masquerading as a young girl.

Following examination of his devices, Hill was also charged with three counts of making indecent images of children. The three counts represented varying levels of depravity from Category A to C.

Defence barrister Andrew Semple said there was “never any likelihood” that Hill would meet the fictional girl “because he stopped the conversations himself”.

Judge Simon Hickey said that having read character references including from a nurse in Australia who had worked with Hill, he could steer away from a jail sentence.

He also noted that Hill, who had no previous convictions, had since lost his well-paid job as a medic on the rigs, was now “working long hours” in another occupation and had already taken steps to rehabilitate himself.

Hill was given an 18-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation-activity days.

He was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for five years and made subject to a five-year sexual-harm prevention order. He was ordered to pay £150 prosecution costs.