Man jailed after attempting to meet young girls for sex in Macclesfield

A man has been jailed after attempted to meet young girls for sex in Macclesfield.

Nicholas Tarbard, 35, of no fixed address, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Friday 15 July where he was sentenced to four years imprisonment and four years on licence after pleading guilty to four counts of attempting to engage sexual communication with child, attempt to arrange to facilitate child sex offence at an earlier hearing.

The court heard how Tarbard had been speaking to who he thought were three young girls aged 11, 12 and 13 on social media.

Tarbard had several conversations with each of them, many of a sexual nature and he had requested inappropriate images of them.

He had even sent indecent images of himself during the conversations.

On Sunday 18 July, 2021, Tarbard had arranged to meet up with who he thought to be the youngest girl, aged 11, at Macclesfield Crematorium.

However, unbeknown to Tarbard, he was speaking to three adults acting as decoys.

Tarbard was waiting at the Crematorium when he was confronted by the decoys who then called police.

When officers arrived at scene, they searched Tarbard who was in possession of a hunting knife, a screwdriver, two pairs of scissors, sex toys and a condom.

During questioning, he answered no comment to everything posed to him by officers, even when shown messages that he had sent to the three different decoys.

He was arrested and subsequently charged with arranging the commission of a child sex offence and possession of a bladed article in a public place.

As well as being sentenced, he was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period and received a Sexual Harm Prevention Order also for an indefinite period.

Detective Constable Jamie Roberts, who led the investigation, said: “Tarbard is an extremely dangerous individual who was intent on sexually assaulting young girls.

“Thanks to the work of the decoys, we were able to arrest and question Tarbard. Although he answered no comment to all of our questions, the evidence against him was damning.

“I would like to thank the courts who have helped keep Tarbard off our streets with the sentence that was handed down to him today.

“Tarbard was talking to decoys but these could have easily been innocent children.

“I hope this case acts as a reminder for all parents and guardians to warn their children about the dangers of communicating with people online and to ensure that they are using the internet safely.”