Robert Coleshill, 53, was jailed for six months at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday. A groundbreaking two-year Internet ban was also imposed, after he pleaded guilty to four charges of gross indecency and a further six counts of being in possession of indecent images of children. Coleshill was sentenced under the Criminal Attempts Act, for attempting to take part in an act of gross indecency. Digital evidence was presented of the defendant committing a sexual act in front of a Web cam.
The prohibition of entrapment within UK law has often made it difficult for police officers to catch paedophiles operating in Internet chatrooms. Section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act states that such methods make police "agent provocateurs" and evidence gathered in this way is inadmissible. Article 6 of the EU Convention on Human Rights also outlaws evidence gathered by entrapment.