A 29-year-old club cricketer, David Hymers, was arrested for sending explicit messages to underage schoolgirls. Hymers was sentenced to three years community order with sex offender program on Sunday for his online antics. The cricketer was confronted by paedophile hunters in front of his teammates before he was arrested by two policemen from the ground. Hymers was picked from Tynemouth Cricket Club ground during his training session, reports The Mirror.
Prior to the arrival of the law officers, Hymers was asked about his online chat by the members of the undercover organisation Guardians of the North. Hymers’ fellow cricketers looked stunned when the head of the organizer told them that he needed to speak to him about his online conversation.
“The police are on their way,” he was later informed by the group as per a report published in the Mirror. He was later taken off the ground by two police officers.
The disgraced sportsperson later accepted the two charges of getting involved in a sex chat with a child after he was misled to believe that he was chatting with a 13 and 14-year-old teenage girl.
The report further says that the fake social media accounts of teenage girls were created by the Guardians of the North to expose online predators.
Prosecutor Andrew Espley also informed the New Castle United court that the cricketer has initiated every interaction with lines like “Hey, that’s a nice top, did you get it on sale because it’s 100 percent off at my place.”
“He said he would extend the offer to their pants,” Espley further said,
Hymers was challenged by the group last August after they found out that he played cricket for a local team, the prosecutor informed the court.
“They turned up, they spoke to him, they called the police and Mr Hymers was arrested,” Espley said.
Hymers, who used the fake name of ‘Hugh,’ to continue the illegal conversation was also made aware that the girls were underage in March and August last year. However, he continued the sex chat.
After the hearing, Recorder Ben Nolan QC sentenced Hymers to a community order for three years with sex offender program requirements. The judge in his verdict also announced that the paedophile hunter groups are “perfectly lawful.”
