McDonald's manager exposed as a paedophile

A McDonald's manager sent sexual messages to someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl and asked her for pictures of her dressed in her school uniform. Unbeknownst to 36-year-old Matthew Kerswell he was chatting to an undercover police over who had set up a fake online profile as part of operation to identify child sex offenders.

The defendant's barrister told Swansea Crown Court his client had initially become involved in online chats out of boredom and accepted his conversations with the decoy had been "wrong, inappropriate, and sexualised". A judge said it was clear from the two month-long conversation that Kerswell had been intent on pursuing the girl.

Caitlin Brazel, prosecuting, said in April 2022 Kerswell initiated contact with a profile on the messaging app Kik purporting to be that of a 13-year-old girl. She said in reality the profile had been set up by law enforcement officers as part of an online operation to identify potential offenders. The court heard that after the pair's initial conversation the defendant's messages quickly turned sexual with Kerswell talking about masturbation and his desire to get "wet and soapy" in the shower with the girl. Kerswell sent the "girl" a series of pictures of himself and of Caswell Bay where he said he had been swimming and he repeatedly asked her for photos including snaps taken in the shower and shots of her in her school uniform. The defendant referred to the contact as his "cute little monkey" and said she brought out his "naughtiness".

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The prosecutor said after two months of messages the defendant was arrested on June 23 and after being cautioned admitted he had been in contact with a person who was 13 or 14 but insisted he "hadn't done anything dodgy". In his subsequent interview he made admissions about what he had been doing but denied finding teenagers attractive "though he could not explain his behaviour".

Matthew Kerswell, of Pwll y Domen Road, Manselton, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to engage a child in sexual communications when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions. Vince Williams, for Kerswell, said the defendant had abandoned a course at Swansea Metropolitan University to join McDonald's and over the course of his 19-year career with the fast food company had worked his way up to being manager. He said his client had lost that job as a result of his conviction. The barrister said the background to the offending was that the defendant and his partner were working different shift patterns with the result that he became "bored" and started becoming involved in online chats for the "thrill". He said the defendant accepted his conversations with the decoy had been "wrong, inappropriate, and sexualised" and said he was remorseful for what he had done.

Judge Huw Rees said Kerswell had been "quite intent on pursuing" the 13-year-old girl he thought he had been in communication with and he said the courts had a duty to protect youngsters. He also said he had read the letter the defendant had written to the court and accepted his remorse was genuine and said he had read the "very supportive" pre-sentence report. With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Kerswell was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 24 months and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and a Horizon sex offenders programme and to do 100 hours of unpaid work in the community.

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