‘Desperate’ man sent ‘blatantly sexual messages’ to two girls, 12, during lockdown

A man from Redbridge who sent sexual messages to two 12-year-old girls has narrowly avoided being sent immediately to jail. Ajay Ubha, 23, was also caught with a “substantial amount” of child pornography after he began downloading vile images during the first national Covid-19 lockdown.

Appearing today (Thursday, March 10) at Snaresbrook Crown Court, he was handed a suspended prison sentence and will be subject to a five-year sexual notification requirement. The court heard that Ubha had first seen child pornography on WhatsApp, which then led him to initiate contact with the young girls during the second national lockdown in November 2020.

In what judge Sandy Canavan described as a “significant upping of the stakes”, he proceeded to message two 12-year-old girls, with full knowledge of their ages. He sent sexual messages and asked for indecent images, before he was arrested on December 4.

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His defence lawyer Molly Pinkus told the court that Ubha had committed the acts during a “time of desperation”, and that it was a culmination of depression, lockdown and the results of his miserable time at school. Judge Canavan rebuked that explanation, telling the defendant: “A lot of people have depression, they don’t go looking for child porn.”

During her sentencing remarks, judge Canavan told Ubha: “Back in 2020, I’ll accept you were in a low point in your life but that in no way explains why you became sexually interested in children. You thought you were talking to two 12-year-old girls and you engaged in blatant sexual communications that no adult would think was an appropriate way to speak to a child.”

She noted that his decision to make contact with the two children for his own sexual pleasure showed “worrying traits” that his behaviour was escalating. “Each and every image you’ve viewed is a market you are generating, a lucrative market for criminals to find and abuse children, beat them, penetrate them, violate them and ruin their lives,” she continued.

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Ubha was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years and will be subject to a sexual notification requirement for the next five years. He must not reside or remain in any premises with a female under the age of 18 and must undertake a 40-day rehabilitation programme.

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