Richard Allan Wavell (32) was also made the subject of a five year restraining order preventing him from having any unsupervised contact with any boy aged under 16, as well as having his name placed on the sex offenders register for five years.
Miss O’Connor pretended to be the young teenager on gay dating website Grindr. Wavell initiated the conversation with the ‘boy’ and it soon became sexual, the Magistrate’s Court was told on Wednesday morning. When told the boy was only 14, and given the opportunity to end the communication, Wavell continued to stay in contact. He arranged to meet ‘boy’ outside the General Hospital on 21 January this year and Miss O’Connor took a picture of him while he waited before referring the matter to the police.
In sentencing, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said that Wavell posed a ‘very significant risk’ of reoffending as he had four previous convictions for assault that were described as ‘contact offences’ involving teenage boys, but were not sexually motivated.
Afterwards, Miss O’Connor said that she was happy with the court’s sentence as it was the ‘longest one that had been imposed so far’. She also vowed to continue her work.
