Woy Woy: Jonathan Heath jailed for online grooming

A Woy Woy man, who thought he was communicating with a girl two years younger than his daughter, sent her images and videos of himself masturbating. But he was really talking to police.

A Woy Woy man has been sentenced in Gosford District Court after pleading guilty to one count of using a carriage service to procure a child under 16 for sex.

Jonathon Heath, 39, appeared in person in the dock on Tuesday when he was sentenced to 18 months jail with a non-parole period of six months.

An agreed statement of facts states officers from the Child Abuse and Sex Crime Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) used an “assumed online identity” and sent a friend request to Heath’s Facebook profile on December 8 last year.

Using the online identity, police told Heath he was talking to a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Jonathon Heath was sentenced in Gosford District Court for using a carriage service to groom a person under 16 for sex. Picture: NSW Police Force

The court heard while the initial exchanges were innocent, it was not long before the Facebook messages and then text messages became “sexualised”.

Heath also discussed buying alcohol for the girl, asked if she could get out without her mother knowing and suggested certain sexual activity that she might enjoy.

At his request she sent him a photograph and he told her she had “nice tits”.

“The offender sent a picture of his face, two pictures of his crotch and two pictures of his exposed penis,” the facts state.

He told her not to tell anyone about him because he was much older than her and later sent a 42 second video of himself masturbating.

On January 11 he told her he was “a little nervous” because she was two years younger than his daughter and organised to meet her in the next day or so.

Heath appeared at Gosford District Court. (AAP Image/Sue Graham)

However the meeting never occurred and he was arrested by police on January 14 at Paton St, Woy Woy.

Police seized his mobile phone and Heath voluntarily provided the passcode to unlock it.

He told police the girl had just randomly added him as a friend and “I was not going to meet with her I was just chatting”.

The court heard his father left when he was three and he left home aged about 13 and spent some time living on the street before his mother found him.

Giving evidence Heath said he had been living with his mother for the past 10 years as her carer as she was confined to a wheelchair.

The court heard he had a problem with alcohol but he denied any sexual interest in children.

Police arrested Heath at Woy Woy. Picture: NSW Police Force

“He regrets his actions and feels bad, and to avoid reoffending he will deny himself access to the internet,” Judge Sharron Norton said in her remarks on sentence.

“Mr Heath had no idea why he decided to communicate in this way with someone he believed to be 14 years of age and acknowledged that he `really stuffed up big time’.”

Judge Norton said in cross examination Heath accepted he was “sexually aroused by the activity” and he decided not to carry through with the meeting the day before his arrest.

The Crown submitted he instigated the conversations about alcohol and sex and he “intended to move from online communications to real life interactions”.

His defence submitted he was first approached by the assumed identity and did not go “trawling the internet or chatrooms” looking for young girls and sought to meet her in public.

“These offences can be difficult to detect and are becoming more prevalent,” Judge Norton said.

“The sentence imposed must send a message to the community that such conduct will result in stern punishment.”