Chesterfield father-of-six sent indecent photos of himself to undercover police officer thinking she was 12-year-old girl

Norris John Spencer started messaging the girl on social media in August 2019, and over several weeks bombarded her with messages and images, asking for semi-naked images and making lewd comments.

Spencer, aged 38, of Mellor Way, Chesterfield, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child at an earlier hearing on December 2 at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court, but the offence was deemed so serious that the case was sent to Derby Crown Court for sentencing.

Prosecution barrister Katrina Wilson said Spencer had first made contact with the ‘child’ on August 6, 2019 via the social media platform Kik.

She told the court that the messages became increasingly sexual in nature until August 26, when police visited his home.

“He was an undercover police officer posing as an underage child called Kaitlin,” she said. “He sent a private message saying, ‘Hey, cute Kat, how are you?’. The defendant was told early on that Kaitlin was 12 years old, but he continued to message her for several weeks.

“When he found out she was 12, he sent her a message saying, ‘Hey, that’s a bit young. I bet you’ve seen nothing but d*** pics’.

“The messages became more sexualised as the conversation went on, and the police officer sent him a photo of a 12-year-old girl, and he replied, ‘Hey, you’re cute’, saying that he had never fancied a 12-year-old before.”

Spencer encouraged the ‘child’ to send photos of herself in swimwear, and also asked her to send images of her “with her top pulled up, or her tracksuit pulled down so he could see her pants”, she told the court.

“He sent her two pictures of his erect penis,” Ms Wilson added. “In one it was partly exposed and in the other it was through his underwear.”

Police went to the home of the father-of-six and arrested him while his wife was present, seizing his mobile phone where the images and messages were found.

Mitigating, Bianca Brasoveanu, told the court that Spencer had since engaged with support organisations to curtail his offending and was a man of previous good character.

She said: “The offence had been ongoing for a couple of weeks and he was acting out of character. He answered no comment in the police interview but he made significant statements to officers at his home address to guide them to where the material could be found.

“He’s married and his children are his motivation to be a better father and a better husband.”

She added that Spencer had suffered with mental health problems since his arrest and had been forced to resign from his job as a civil engineer last month because of this.

Sentencing was set to take place on January 6, but Judge Nirmal Shant QC adjourned the case until Friday, January 15, to get further information from Spencer’s psychologist.

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