A 74-year-old married pensioner from Wolverhampton has been given a community sentence following a court case concerning inappropriate online messages with a Facebook account posing as a teenage girl.
David Nicholls, a retired factory worker from Crowther Road, Wolverhampton, was arrested after a member of a paedophile hunter group contacted police about his online conversations. The court heard that Nicholls initiated contact in December 2024 with a profile presented as a 13-year-old girl.
During their exchanges, Nicholls shared his age and retirement status, discussing meeting up once the girl turned 16. He made statements about wanting to join her at bath time and expressed a preference for “young girls, especially virgins.” However, he later told officers he would not act on these thoughts in real life and described the messages as “all banter and a joke.”
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Prosecutor Robert Cowley told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Nicholls sent a non-indecent photo of himself and spoke about meeting at a hotel. He also suggested that the girl could engage in sexual activities and sent her a text saying “sleep tight.”
Upon arrest, Nicholls accepted responsibility for the messages but claimed he thought he was communicating with an artificial intelligence account rather than a real person.
Defence barrister Stephen Cadwaladr highlighted Nicholls' clean record and his long career of 50 years at the same factory. He also mentioned that Nicholls and his wife, who was present in court, are both in poor health and lead a very limited social life.
Sentencing Judge John Butterfield commented on Nicholls' struggle to fully accept responsibility and described the situation as both “sad” and “shameful.” Nicholls pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
Nicholls received a 12-month community order, including a 35-day rehabilitation activity requirement and a one-month curfew from 8 pm to 6 am on Fridays. He has been placed on the sex offenders register for five years and was issued a five-year sexual harm prevention order.