Lake Haven: Michael Leslie Wilmot pleads guilty to online grooming and possessing child abuse material

A Central Coast man masturbated on a video call to what he thought was a girl, 14, from Sydney. But she turned out to be an undercover cop, a court has heard.

Michael Leslie Wilmot, 59, of Lake Haven, arriving at Wyong Local Court where he pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to groom a child for sex and masturbating on a video call. Picture: NewsLocal

A man has pleaded guilty to online grooming after he masturbated on a video call to what he thought was a teenager.

However it turned out the child was in fact an undercover police officer from the Child Exploitation Internet Unit posing online as a 14-year-old girl.

Michael Leslie Wilmot, of Lake Haven, faced Wyong Local Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to engage in sexual activity with a child and procuring a child for sex.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing child abuse material after police seized his phone and laptop and found three offensive images depicting underage sexual activity.

An agreed set of facts states the 59-year-old struck up an online conversation with what he thought was a girl, 14, between July 8 and August 14 last year.

Wilmot thought he was talking to a 14-year-old girl but it was really an undercover police officer. (File image)

The facts state Wilmot went by the username “ILuv2lckbaldpuz” on the Chat IW website when he private messaged the girl saying “Hi”.

They started exchanging messages which he “immediately” started sexualising when he found out she was supposedly 14.

Wilmot will be sentenced in Gosford District Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

He asked her if she would like him to perform a sexual act on her and if she watched porn.

The girl replied “I haven’t even kissed a boy b4”.

The undercover officer told Wilmot the girl lived alone with her mother in Western Sydney.

Wilmot said he lived on the Central Coast and gave her his email address and Skype details so they could move the conversation over to that platform.

On August 14, 2023, he tried to have a Skype video call with the child but the undercover officer told him the girl’s microphone and camera weren’t working.

He spoke to her as she replied in written messages for a while.

“At this point in the video call, at about 5.08pm, the offender exposed himself and masturbated in the video call,” the agreed facts state.

“As he had himself exposed and was masturbating, he asked the girl to touch herself in her vagina.”

Afterwards he said he hoped she wasn’t recording the call.

Police swooped on his Crowe St address on September 12 last year where they seized an ASUS laptop and Samsung phone which contained three images of child abuse material.

When officers arrested Wilmot he said “I was talking to a girl. I didn’t know she was young … she told me she was 14 and I was like shit and I stopped”.

His bail was continued and he was adjourned to face Gosford District Court on December 5 to fix a sentence date.