A wealthy Wigan businessman described as a ‘predatory paedophile’ was jailed for 12 years today for grooming two teenage girls.
Paul Alex Francis Wallace, 58, of Appleby Bridge, Wigan, was found guilty of several counts, relating to child grooming after a lengthy investigation by Lancashire Constabulary into his contact with underage girls on the internet.
The charges included grooming, making indecent photographs of a child and sexual activity with a child in relation to one of his victims, and grooming and taking indecent images of his second victim.
Wallace was also found guilty at Liverpool Crown Court of possessing an indecent image of a child and attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
Information was passed to detectives in Wigan and his house was searched in August 2011, where a number of electronic items, including computers and phones were examined.
They showed he had been in regular contact with a young girl in Bedford and had exchanged sexual messages, leading to his arrest on April 5 2012 by officers from Bedfordshire Police.
Further items were recovered and examined and a number of indecent images were found, while messages relating to another victim were recovered, and he was further arrested by officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Sexual Crime Unit in August 2012.
The subsequent investigation found that he initiated contact with this victim, now aged 15, when she was 13 years old.
The pair began chatting over the internet and via text message, at which point he told her that he had a lot of money and an Aston Martin.
They first met shortly before her 14th birthday, for which he gave her money, as well as for her subsequent birthday.
They met on numerous occasions and after several meetings together he first had sex with her on an airbed in the back of his van.
Police discovered that on one occasion he collected her in his Aston Martin and took her to a flat in Wigan.
Wallace also took numerous videos of the victim while they were having sex.
Detective Constable Ceri Martin, from the Sexual Crime Unit, said: “Wallace was a wealthy and successful businessman but hidden beneath this veneer of respectability was a groomer with a penchant for teenage girls.
“He is a predatory paedophile who displayed classic grooming behaviour, scouring the internet and befriending young girls.
“He offered a listening ear and made them feel special, so much so that they began consensual relationships with him.
“He manipulated them simply for his own sexual gratification and has now been jailed for his appalling offences.”
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