Sheffield man tried to persuade '12-year-old girl' to commit 'depraved' act with hairbrush, court told

Sending 40-year-old defendant, Darrel Kettleborough, to prison for a string of sex offences, Judge David Dixon, told him: “You fall to be sentenced for trying to talk to a 12-year-old girl in a grossly inappropriate way, a completely inappropriate way that most people would regard as being depraved. Not only were you trying to talk to her, you shared images of you masturbating.”

During an April 5 hearing, Judge Dixon said Kettleborough, aged 42, of Skinnerthorpe Road, Fir Vale also asked the girl to commit a sex act using the handle of a hairbrush.

He continued: “Luckily for this community, no 12-year-old girl existed, she was a police officer deployed to see if there were people like you, trawling the interent, and looking for girls to abuse.”

Prosecuting barrister, Neil Coxon, told Sheffield Crown Court that the online communication between Kettleborough and the undercover police officer posing as a 12-year-old girl took place between May 19, 2021 and June 17, 2021.

“She was contacted by this defendant, and it was quickly established that she was 12 and he was 40, and that he had just been working with disabled adults…the conversation quickly became sexual on his part. He asked what she was wearing, asked about her underwear,” Mr Coxon said, adding that Kettleborough went on to ask the ‘girl’ if she wanted to receive pictures of his genitals, before sending explicit pictures to her.

Kettleborough subsequently went on to ask the girl to carry out the sex act with a hairbrush handle and also encouraged her to perform another solo sex act, the court heard.

Police arrested Kettleborough on June 28, 2021, just over a fortnight after the communication ended, and he was subsequently charged with four sex offences, namely one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child; two counts of attempting to cause or incite a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and one count of attempting to engage in a sexual activity in presence of a child aged under 13. Kettleborough pleaded guilty to all charges at an earlier hearing.

Rebecca Tanner, defending, said: “In so far as positive attributes to his character are concerned, Your Honour knows he was previously employed as a support worker, working with vulnerable adults.”

“[It was] a challenging but rewarding job that he carried out for a number of years, throughout the Covid pandemic and provided real help to others,” Ms Tanner said, adding that Kettleborough no longer works in the role.

Ms Tanner said Kettleborough had endured a difficult childhood, and referred Judge Dixon to a report prepared by psychologist, Dr Harry Wood, who suggested Kettleborough was exhibiting ‘pre-existing and long-standing symptoms of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Ms Tanner said Kettleborough experienced a difficult ‘trigger’ event at work, and thereafter began ‘using alcohol as a crutch,’ adding that Kettleborough accepts he was ‘disinhibited’ by the alcohol.

“Dr Wood describes a condition where people who have suffered a trigger event can suffer a state of disassociation,” she said.

Ms Tanner added: “This is, fortunately, a case where there was no 12-year-old girl…this offending was entirely out of character. Mr Kettleborough has no previous convictions, no experience of the criminal justice system.”

Judge Dixon jailed Kettleborough for 40 months, and made him the subject of a 15-year sexual harm prevention order.

Judge Dixon said that while he had ‘regard’ for the fact that no child was involved with, or harmed by, Kettleborough's offending, but while addressing him directly, added: “You wanted this to happen, you tried everything you could to make it happen.”