He went to meet a schoolboy for sex but found police officers waiting for him

Joshua Camplin claimed he was only looking for friendship

A convicted paedophile who arranged to meet a 14-year-old boy a bus station for sex was instead met by waiting police officers, a court has heard.

Joshua Camplin had sent a series of sexually explicit messages and photographs to someone he believed to be a 14-year-old boy and repeatedly asked for intimate pictures in return, unaware he was chatting to an undercover online police officer running a decoy account.

The 33-year-old defendant would later claim that he that he was only seeking a friendship with the decoy, that he missed the message where the decoy said he was 14, and that he had no sexual interest in children.

Giving Camplin an extended sentence as a dangerous offender a recorder said he did not accept any of those assertions.

Kathryn Lane, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court that in 2019 Camplin was jailed and made subject to sexual harm prevention order for possession of indecent images.

She said as part of that order there were restrictions on the defendant owning internet-enabled devices and he was banned from having social media or online accounts in any name other than his own.

The court heard that in early February this year Camplin, who was calling himself James Brown and had a username Ginger Lad, initiated contact with a profileon the gay and bisexual dating website FabGuys.

Camplin’s messages were not initially replied to by the decoy but then the pair began exchanging messages and they moved their communications to email.

The court the decoy account was being run by an undercover police officer.

The prosecutor said the decoy told Camplin he was aged 14 “but that did not deter” the defendant who sent the supposed teenager a series of sexual messages and photographs and made repeated requests for pictures of the decoy’s penis and bum.

When the decoy replied on one occasion that he was in school the defendant told him to go to the toilets and “show me some”.

The court heard the defendant continued asking for intimate pictures and videos before discussing meeting the ‘teen’ for oral sex.

On March 3 arrangements were made for the supposed child to travel to Newport and the decoy messaged the defendant to say he was on his way.

At 4.15pm that day police arrested Camplin outside Newport bus station.

Joshua Andrew Camplin, of Chepstow Road, Newport, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order, attempted sexual communication with a child, and attempting to arrange the commission of a child sexual offence when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has one previous conviction for nine offences from 2019 namely the possession of indecent images.

Darren Bishop, for Camplin, said there was very little mitigation he could put forward as far as the offending was concerned but said his client had encountered the decoy on an adult website and said there had initially been no indication of age.

He said his client acted as the primary carer for his partner who had severe mobility issues and said the offending had been a “betrayal” of that partner.

Recorder Simon Hughes noted in his pre-sentence report Camplin claimed that he was only seeking a friendship with the ‘teenager’, said he missed the email where the decoy told him he was 14, and denied having any sexual interest in children.

The recorder said he did not accept any of those assertions and said he was certain that had the police not attended and had the decoy been a real person the defendant would have had oral sex, and perhaps other sexual activity, with him.

He noted an “escalation” in Camplin’s behaviour from possession of images in 2019 to trying to arrange contact offending in 2026 and said probation had assessed him as posing a high risk to any child.

The recorder said in those circumstances a standard determinate sentence was not adequate to protect the public.

With a one-quarter discount for his guilty plea Camplin was sentenced to a seven-year extended sentence comprising 54 months in custody followed by a 30-month licence period.

He must serve two-thirds of the custodial element of the sentence before he can apply to be released but it will be for the Parole Board to determine if he is safe to be let out.

Camplin will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life and he was made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

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