York man discussed having sex with 14-year-old boy

Paul Coull, 50, first contacted the other person via Hornet, a social media website for members of the LGBTQ+ community, said Rachel Landin, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

Unknown to him, the “Luke” profile purporting to be a 14-year-old boy was operated by adult members of an online anti-paedophile vigilante group who told police about his sexual conversations.

Coull, of Surtees Street, Clifton, pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child. He had no previous convictions.

“As far as you were concerned, this was a 14-year-old boy,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Coull. “This court must protect young boys and girls from harm on the internet.

“You richly deserve to go immediately to prison. But Parliament said any sentence under 12 months has to be suspended unless there are really exceptional circumstances and I cannot say there are (in this case).”

He passed a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months on condition Coull does 15 days’ rehabilitative activities and 250 hours’ unpaid work and made him subject to a sexual harm prevention order for seven years. Coull will be on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

The judge said much of the conversation between Coull and “Luke” had been innocent. “However it did sink into the unacceptable,” he said.

He added: “There was a degree of persistence by the vigilante group” that a real teenager would not have shown.

Defence barrister Rachel Webster handed in character and work references on Coull’s behalf.

She said the online conversations took place at a time when Coull was experiencing low mood and was depressed. He was extremely lonely and craved attention but had looked for it in the wrong place.

He was on medication for depression, but had not been formally diagnosed.

Ms Landin said Coull didn’t ask the age of the person operating the profile on Hornet when they first started talking in the autumn of 2024. 

Eventually “Luke” said he was 14.  Coull responded by saying “Luke” was too young and that sexual acts with him would be illegal. He told the profile he was 48 and “Luke” responded by saying that was all right.

They had a lot of non-sexual conversations and Coull had told “Luke” about the difficulties he had had when he “came out”.

The conversations moved onto WhatsApp where Coull had asked if “Luke” would like him to take his virginity and other sexual topics.

Ms Landin said police had examined Coull’s phone but had found no evidence that Coull had been looking online for indecent images of children.