An elderly rapist, who has a history of sexual crimes, was not given a custodial sentence after he tried to meet a teen girl.
Cyril Hardy was caught by a pedophile hunter group then the 80-year-old convicted rapist of Rochdale, England pleaded guilty to trying to meet a girl under 16 years old for grooming and trying to engage in sexual communication with a child.
Stacey McDonald, a member of pedophile hunter group Parents Standing Together For Our Kids, recently told the Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court how she set up a decoy as a teen girl named Atara Louise on two apps, reported Manchester Evening News.
Between Oct. 21 and Nov. 20 four years ago, the elderly man told Louise, 14, that he wanted her to live with him, exchange wedding vows with him and have his kids, prosecutor Alexandra Sutton said. She shared that Louise said that her mother was going away for a week, when Hardy asked her to meet him in the city center and said that he would take her to buy some new clothes. Sutton said that he asked the girl if she wanted a yellow gold or silver wedding ring.
The court was told how he arranged to meet the teenager at Victoria Station on Nov. 18, 2017 and sent her his car registration number's picture. Once he reached the location, Hardy was confronted by members of the pedophile hunter group then arrested by cops. An iTunes gift card, an iPhone and a perfume bottle were found in his car. Sutton shared that when reprimanded, the elderly man, who has 16 convictions for 20 offences, said that he thought Louise was older than she was and that the talk about marriage and kids was "just a laugh."
Hardy, who initially pleaded not guilty but later changed his plea, was described as "a lonely old man who was seeking comfort of strangers, and has been in and out of marriages," by Daniel Gaskrell, who was defending him.
Judge Paul Lawton said that he would have had no issues in sending him to jail, despite his old age, but due to the length of time it had taken for the case to conclude, the judge said that he now had the problem that Hardy is vulnerable to coronavirus due to him being diabetic and suffering from ischemic heart disease, reported Daily Mail.
The judge said, "You are a ticking time bomb in custody as far as COVID is concerned." But he added that if he further offends, he will go back to jail, and then sentenced him to 18 months in jail, suspended for two years as well as gave 30 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days.
