By Lucy Caulkett-
A barrister who made arrangements to travel across the country in order to sexually abuse teenage girls has been jailed for three and a half years.
Guy Sims, 53, was found guilty by a jury at Oxford Crown Court of three counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.
In September 2017 Sims – who lived in Bedford – talked online to two people he believed were 13-year-old schoolgirls. He was posing as an 18-year-old and used the social media platforms Mylol and Kik.
Calling himself ‘markbatx’ and ‘markviva’, he made arrangements to meet one of the girls and travelled to Portsmouth with the intention of engaging in sexual activity her.
In a statement, the crime unit said that Sims then travelled from Cambridge to Portsmouth with the intention of engaging in sexual activity with one of the girls.
When he arrived, he was arrested by officers who found he had cider and a condom on his person, along with camouflage leaf netting in his car.
While under investigation, Sims engaged in conversation of a sexual nature with the third person he believed to be a 13-year-old school girl in October 2019. He made arrangements to meet her in Oxford for sexual activity to take place. Sims was charged in connection with the offences on 31 October 2019.
During the investigation, the victims in the case were not real.
While under investigation, he engaged in conversation of a sexual nature with the third person he believed to be a 13-year-old school girl in 2019.
Now calling himself ‘Yo Sarami’ and ‘Danny.dan,’ he made arrangements to meet her in Oxford for sexual activity to take place.
The sentencing follows an investigation by specialist officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) spanning four years.
Detective Chief Inspector Philip Attwood, of SEROCU, said: “This is the conclusion of a case in which Sims engaged in conversation of a sexual nature and arranged to meet up with those who he believed to be three teenage girls with the intention of carrying out child sexual abuse.
“Sims, worked as a civil barrister, and should have recognised the consequences of this offending.
“He demonstrated that he was prepared to go to great lengths and travel across the country to Portsmouth, to Guildford and to Oxford, to engage in depraved sexual activity with children. He repeatedly engaged with the profiles of those he believed to be teenage girls online, and the threat he posed would have continued had it not been for the continued and dedicated efforts of those working for SEROCU.
“Law enforcement operates across the internet and we are committed to ensuring those who use this means of communicating with those they believe to be children to arrange sexual abuse are brought before the courts to face justice.”
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Detective Chief Inspector Philip Attwood, of SEROCU, said: ‘Sims worked as a civil barrister and should have recognised the consequences of this offending. He demonstrated that he was prepared to go to great lengths and travel across the country to Portsmouth, to Guildford and to Oxford to engage in depraved sexual activity with children.
‘He repeatedly engaged with the profiles of those he believed to be teenage girls online, and the threat he posed would have continued had it not been for the continued and dedicated efforts of those working for SEROCU.’