A man arranged to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex in a Swindon park - bringing knives with him.

Nathan Graham began sexting an undercover police officer on Snapchat in December 2023, sending nude photos of himself and asking whether the person he thought was a teenager wanted to see videos of him performing sex acts.

The user of the decoy profile told Graham that she was 13 and made several references to being at school, but the 29-year-old told the ‘child’ he was 18 and continued to ask her to send photos of her genitals.

He has now been jailed for more than three years.

Prosecutor John Dyer told Swindon Crown Court: “He asked if she would let him f*** her.

"Mr Graham asked the profile to meet him in Freshbrook and sent a map of a park next to a bus stop, a location which would not seem suspicious to a child’s guardians.

“On December 6, they made plans to meet and Mr Graham was arrested at 5.30pm that day at a bus stop next to Bloomsbury Park in Freshbrook.

“Two knives were found in his bag at the time.”

In a police interview, Graham, of Matson Avenue, Gloucester, was open about the fact he believed he had been communicating with a 13-year-old and had planned to meet her to have sex.

“He said he carried one knife that day for self-protection and had forgotten the other was in his bag,” said defence barrister Mr Damon.

“It is clear that Mr Graham has a number of problems in his life including drugs and factors in his young life."

Swindon Advertiser: Nathan Graham believed he was meeting the child at Bloomsbury Park bus stop after school.Nathan Graham believed he was meeting the child at Bloomsbury Park bus stop after school. (Image: Google Maps)
Graham pleaded guilty to attempting to engage with sexual communications with a child, attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity, arranging the commission of penetrative sexual activity with a child and possession of bladed articles in a public place.

On Thursday, February 22 at Swindon Crown Court, he was sentenced by Judge James Townsend to three years and three months imprisonment and was given a sexual harm prevention order lasting 15 years.

“There can be no place for Graham’s abhorrent behaviour in Wiltshire, let alone society," said Detective Constable Sarah Greenham of the Child Internet Exploitation Team.

“CIET exists within Wiltshire Police to safeguard children, and we are totally committed to ensuring dangerous individuals such as Graham are identified and brought to justice in order to protect the public.”

"Graham is a harmful sexual predator that has rightly today been handed a significant jail sentence for his crimes," added Det Insp David Wells from SWROCU’s Online Investigations Team.