Autistic volunteer at Chesterfield FC charity “pestered” young girl for nude photos

Defendant Joshua Dunne, 22, was described in a psychological report as a “slow learner” with “limited empathy” due to suffering from autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).

Derby Crown Court heard how Dunne was volunteering at the HUB at Chesterfield’s Technique Stadium when he contacted one of two victims on Facebook in September 2020.

Dawn Pritchard, prosecuting, described how the daily conversations later moved from there to Discord chat app, where they became “sexual”.

Dunne, who was 19 at the time and had been trained in safeguarding, asked the girl, if she “wished to lose her virginity”.

In other messages he spoke of being “horny”, sending images of his penis and offering to “help and show” the victim how to masturbate.

Ms Pritchard said: “He asked (the victim) to trade pictures – he wanted pictures of (her) in her birthday suit or in her underwear. She replied no every time.”

The prosecutor said when told “no” repeatedly, Dunne would say “only one and I will stop asking”.

Dunne, who told the girl he “loved” and “connected” with her, replied that she could “confide” in him and he was “there if she wanted to try new things” when she told him she felt ugly.

In a victim impact statement read out to the court the girl said Dunne’s messages both “upset” her and made her feel “happy” at the time as they were a daily “routine”.

She added: “I feel hatred but I also feel sorry for him.”

Dunne, the court heard, also began messaging another young girl at the centre, with similar requests for nude images and sexual contact.

He had no previous convictions on his record, the court heard.

The defendant’s barrister said Dunne had suffered with autistic spectrum disorder from an early age.

He added: “He was slow in hitting milestones in his early years and was a socially-isolated child, with difficulties in social relationships and language.”

The barrister said patients suffering with ASD had “intellectual understanding” but lacked “emotional understanding”.

Dunne, of Vernon Road, Chesterfield, admitted engaging in sexual communication with a child and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Judge Martin Hurst told him: “The difficulty was what you were interested in was sexual and she was interested in support and friendship.

"The messages demonstrate your persistence but I’m prepared to accept that it was driven to a large extent by your condition."

The judge noted that three years had passed since the messages took place, that Dunne had shown “insight” into his behaviour and there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.

He suspended an eight-month jail term for two years, handing Dunne a 50-day rehabilitation activity requirement, 40 hours unpaid work and a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.

Commenting on the case in a previous statement, a spokesperson for Chesterfield FC Community Trust said: “Protecting the welfare of all participants in programmes we deliver is something we take very seriously.

“Robust safeguarding measures are now in place to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future.”