A convicted sex-offender who has severe learning difficulties and “functions like a five year old”, has narrowly avoided being sent to jail after arranging to meet a 12-year-old boy in Padiham.

Scott Heap, 30, whose learning disabilities mean he functions at an extremely low level, made contact with a young boy on social media in August 2021, Burnley Crown Court heard.

At the time, and according to reports, Heap had been left, “unsupervised in care and had been allowed to use the internet without supervision, allowed to drink alcohol and run wild”.

The defendant initiated conversations with the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in which he talked about sex and sexual activity.

Heap, who has previous convictions for two similar offences, then arranged to meet the 12-year-old in Padiham.

Fortunately, the court heard, the boy did not turn up, but Heap did.

Explaining to the defendant why he was in court, and how she was going to sentence him, Judge Sara Dodd, said: “All those things were very wrong and that is why you are here, and I have to sentence you for what you have done.

“The harm that you caused to that boy has been very significant, but not just to him, to his parents and other family members.

“I do not consider there was a significant degree of planning, or that there was grooming.

“But there was risk of harm as you continued to contact the victim even though he blocked you on social media.

“These matters are made worse because of your previous conviction and caution.

“Your mitigation is your mental disorder and your learning difficulty, which is clearly linked to the reason why you committed these offences.

“Your mental health and learning difficulty take this case, really, outside of the sentencing guidelines.

“Given your very similar previous behaviour, which got you in trouble with the police twice before, I have no doubt that you then posed a significant risk of sexual harm to children as you were drawn towards younger people, people who functioned at a similar level or higher than you do.

“The place you lived before where you live now was very different, and you were not supervised very well.

“You were allowed to use the internet without supervision, you were allowed to drink too much, and you were allowed to run wild.

“You are two and a half years on now from what you did, but what you did has made that 12-year-old boy very unhappy and sad and has made his life very difficult.

“His family are also sad and upset and rightly very angry at you.

“Nothing I can say to you or do to you puts any of that right.

“But you are now in a very different position to where you were when you spoke with that young boy and have not been in any trouble since then, and that is no doubt down to the remarkable support that you have received from your carer and supervision of the police.”

Judge Dodd said that according to his probation workers, Heap, who is already on the sex offender’s register for previous similar offences, would only be damaged further if he was sent to jail.

She went on: “The victim’s mum told me how upset he and the rest of the family had been and she hopes that you will not be able to do this to anyone else.

“I am satisfied you are functioning at a lower level than your adult years, at most you are like a five-year-old, and you have an IQ that shows extreme learning disabilities, and I am satisfied that this is what causes you to behave as you do.”

Heap, of Brooklands Road, Burnley, pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, and meeting a child following sexual grooming.

He was handed a two-year prison sentence suspended for 21 months, told to complete 40 rehabilitation days, must sign the sex offender’s register for seven years and was made subject to a 15 year sexual harm prevention order.

Judge Dodd added: “If you do anything like this again or you get into any trouble with the police I will have to send you to prison for two years.”