By Clare Sibthorpe and Daniel Lo Surdo
A Sydney writer in his 60s was found with condoms and lubricant in a hotel room as he waited for a 15-year-old girl, only to be confronted by two 16-year-old boys probably wanting to extort him, a court has heard.
Lloyd Bradford Syke is a freelance theatre critic whose body of work includes reviews for news outlet Crikey as well as arts websites Australian Stage and AustralianJazz.net.
Freelance media writer Lloyd Bradford Syke arrives at court for his sentence.Credit: Sam Mooy
The 66-year-old is also a men’s mental health advocate who regularly volunteers for the northern beaches arm of charity Mongrels Men.
Syke avoided full-time custody as he was sentenced in the NSW District Court on Thursday for using a carriage service to procure someone younger than 16 for sexual activity.
The court heard Syke matched with a “fake teenage girl” on Instinct, an adult dating and hook-up application, in January 2024.
Syke’s match, dubbed “Natalie”, reached out to him by texting him on the number listed on his profile and told him she was 15. She then asked to meet him in person.
The court was told Syke initially tried to shut the advance down, telling “Natalie” she was below the age of consent. He thanked her for being up front and said she seemed like a good person.
‘The offender knew in theory that he was speaking to a 15-year-old girl, and should’ve cut off communication immediately.’
Judge John Pickering
Judge John Pickering said “Natalie” continued to suggest that they meet up and repeatedly pushed the conversation in a sexual manner “to entice the offender into getting excited that he could be with someone who was incredibly attractive as a young girl”.
“It is not true or fair to say it was the offender eliciting this conversation, manipulating this person – it was quite the other way,” Pickering said.
“The offender knew in theory that he was speaking to a 15-year-old girl and should’ve cut off communication immediately”.
Pickering said that after two days of exchanging messages, Syke “caved in” and agreed for the pair to meet in a hotel room.
“Perhaps the most serious aspect of this entire offending is having then agreed to meet up with this fake young person in a hotel that has a bed and turning up with condoms and lubricant,” he said.
“The inference was he was hoping and willing to engage in sex. It may have been that sex may not have occurred upon meeting, but he was clearly prepared and ready to do so”.
As Syke sat in the room waiting for “Natalie”, he was instead confronted by two 16-year-old boys trying to barge into the room.
“It was quite clear he’d been scammed or catfished,” Pickering said, adding he showed “incredible naivety” by staying in the hotel, where police were able to easily find him.
Pickering said the boy who had posed as “Natalie” clearly wanted to plan a meeting “where he could confront the offender – as it turns out, with others – to confront him in a physically humiliating manner to lead to some extortion”.
The court heard that Syke told police he had intended to meet up with the girl to “counsel or advise her as some kind of mentor in life”.
In sentencing Syke to a 15-month suspended jail sentence to be served under a two-year recognisance order, Pickering noted Syke had not been on the dark web looking for an underage victim, but was on an adult dating site when approached.
Syke’s psychologist told the court Syke had “entertained the possibility” that he was meeting a 15-year-old, but was “also preparing for it being a scammer” because he had fallen victim to scams before. The psychologist also said that his obsessive compulsive disorder initially meant he felt he had to discover this person’s real identity.
Pickering accepted his initial poor decision-making may have been influenced by his OCD and depression, but said that “at the end of the day, he got excited about the prospect of having sex with a 15-year-old and his OCD had nothing to do with that”.
The court heard Syke showed minimal remorse and “thinks he is the victim here” as he continued to deny he was genuinely interested in sex with a 15-year-old.
Pickering said he was not convinced Syke was not attracted to children, given his willingness to meet up with and have sex with “Natalie”.
The judge took into account Syke’s guilty plea, his clean criminal record and his positive character references.
According to Syke’s LinkedIn profile, he is a freelance arts writer. His most prominent past work includes theatre reviews for Crikey.
In recent years, his online presence has centred around his charity work.
Under Syke’s recognisance order, he must be of good behaviour, be supervised by Community Corrections, undertake rehabilitation programs as directed and not leave NSW.
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