Former nursing assistant snared by paedophile hunters has sentence extended after bombarding schoolgirl with ‘weird’ messages

Last year, John Gibson was sentenced to three years and two months for similar offending, following a sting orchestrated by paedophile hunters.

The 51-year-old was brought back before Newcastle Crown Court today (Monday, January 16) for similar crimes, which happened just days before the other offences in February 2021.

According to prosecutors, Gibson sent 32 messages through both his normal Messenger profile and a secret account to the complainant.

All of the messages were of a sexual nature and one included an image of himself.

Paul Cross, prosecuting, told the court: "[The complainant] described the messages as weird.

"She didn't reply to the messages and put her phone on silent."

The police were later contacted and during interview Gibson said he didn't know if he was guilty because of the amount of alcohol he had consumed at the time.

However, he later admitted two counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child.

Gibson, formerly of Hasting Street, Sunderland, reportedly later said he felt sick afterwards for subjecting the victim to the ordeal.

Judge Robert Adams added an extra six months on to his current sentence, which was imposed having pleaded guilty to attempting to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, and attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch a sexual act.

Former nursing assistantThe judge said: "On February 16, 2021, she received a Facebook message from you.

"You then proceeded to send a number of messages through a Facebook using a normal Messenger profile and a secret Messenger account.

"Messages from both accounts were running alongside each other and both of a sexual nature.

"You didn't deny it. You said you were full of drink and didn't know whether you had done it or not."

Fiona Lamb, defending, told the court that Gibson had since completed the Horizon programme which is aimed at sex offenders to reduce their risk of offending.

Ms Lamb said: "It was 13 weeks and he attended three days a week.

"He's been told all of the work he needs to do has been completed."