A registered sex offender from Tunbridge Wells has been caught using a fake online profile during attempts to groom and abuse a child.
Peter Johnson has now been jailed after he ignored previous measures imposed by the courts to prevent him from reoffending and targeted a teenage girl over several days.
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Peter Johnson Image: Kent Police
Johnson, formerly known as Peter Austen, had been convicted in 2017 of possessing indecent images of children. For these offences, he received a suspended sentence and was added to the sex offender register for 10 years.
In October 2023, officers from Kent Police’s Offender Management Unit discovered Johnson had been using the social media platform Snapchat and was posting under an alias of Matt Harper. He had been contacting another user who told him she was only 13 and sent her a series of explicit images over several days, which included videos of himself.
Under the guise of Matt Harper, he had also sent voice messages, and images of himself fully clothed but unbeknown to Johnson, the child did not exist – her profile was part of a fictitious account. Some of the images he had sent showed his face and officers were able to recognise him as being Peter Johnson.
He was arrested at his home on 15 November 2023
A phone was seized and checks led to the discovery of an illegal image of a child, in the most serious category.
Johnson, 37, was charged with engaging in sexual communication with a child, causing a child to engage in a sexual act, causing a child to view an image of sexual activity, making an indecent image of a child and failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements.
He pleaded guilty and on 10 October 2024 Johnson was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to three years’ imprisonment, having already served almost a year on remand.
When he has served his sentence, Johnson will be subject to a 12-year sexual harm prevention order and will have to comply with sex offender notification requirements, for life.