A Wiltshire man who sent sexual messages to someone he believed to be a 12-year-old female child has been jailed more than two years.

Alan Wiltshire, 65, from Devizes, was sentenced to 28 months in prison on Friday, July 26 at Winchester Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child, attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.

Detective Constable Sarah Greenman said: “Wiltshire was given the opportunity to rehabilitate within the community, however the escalation in his offending has shown that he is either unable, or unwilling to control his behaviour - by sending sexually explicit messages to the online profile of a 12-year-old girl.

“We hope that this custodial sentence not only acts as a deterrent to prevent Wiltshire from re-offending in the future, but also sends out a powerful message out to other potential offenders.

“Please know that there is help available – agencies such as StopitNow, StopSo and Lucy Faithful Foundation can offer tailored, judgement-free support in confidence to individuals having intrusive thoughts about children.”

He had previously admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and was sentenced by Salisbury Magistrates' on April 14 to 17 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months and made subject to the Sex Offenders Register and Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.

Wiltshire’s most recent offence was in breach of his suspended custodial sentence.

The 65-year-old was sentenced to 14 months for inciting sexual activity, seven months (to run concurrently) for sexual messages, 12 months (to run consecutively) for breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order and two months (to run consecutively) for breaching his Suspended Sentence Order.

He was also issued a new Sexual Harm Prevention Order lasting for 10 years.