A teacher once named ‘Britain’s sign language tutor of the year’ has been jailed after being snared by a female paedophile hunter. Sick Robert John Lupton-Le Masurier, 41, who is profoundly deaf, was caught posing as a 13-year-old boy on the gay dating website Grindr in January, INN reports from source
John Lupton-Le Masurier attempted to meet an underage youngster for sex but was instead met by Cheyenne O’Connor, 25, and became the fifth paedophile to be jailed by the mother-of-two.
INN gathered that O’Connor launched her one woman campaign to ‘clean up’ her community of Jersey as she claimed victims of sex abuse were being let down by the justice system.
She said that while she was pleased with her latest conviction, she felt his prison term should have been longer after it was reduced to seven months ‘as an act of mercy’ by Magistrate Sara Fitz.
The judge lowered Le Masurier’s term from nine months after reading a letter from an expert about the effects that prison can have on a deaf person, INN learnt
Mrs Fitz said that she was taking into account deafness in terms of the additional hardship the defendant would suffer in prison. ‘Those hardships are very well set out in the report,’ she added.
INN further gathered that the defendant from Jersey admitted a charge of attempting to meet a child aged 13 following sexual grooming. Le Masurier asked the boy about his school and for pictures, asking him to be discreet.
Prosecuting, Lauren Hallam told the court how Miss O’Connor set up a fake profile on Grindr on January 7 under the false name of ‘Benny’ and registered the age as being 18, due to the application rules.
Once on Grindr, Ms O’Connor however posed as a 13-year-old boy. The court heard that three days later ‘Benny’ received a message from Le Masurier and told him his age.
Benny told him: ‘I not going to lie I am underage. Don’t want anybody to talk to me that doesn’t want to.
Le Masurier replied: ‘You mean you don’t want some fun?’
Benny then said he had never done anything before to which Le Masurier responded: ‘You want to try?’
Benny then told him: ‘I’m 13.’
After this, Le Masurier asked the boy about his school and for pictures, asking him to be discreet.
He told Benny: ‘I’m really looking for fun (sex),’ adding later in the conversation,
‘Don’t worry about being nervous, don’t mind your age as long as you are very, very discreet.’
Ms Hallam said that the conversation continued with some ‘very sexual requests’ and the pair then continued to exchange messages for five days.
INN learnt that when they eventually met Miss O’Connor photographed Le Masurier walking around the area and then went to the police. During his police interview, Le Masurier, who his advocate described as ‘profoundly deaf,’ said he didn’t understand the word ’13’ or ‘age.’
Le Masurier claimed he had a poor command of English and didn’t understand the content of the conversation – denying that he knew the boy was 13.
Advocate Nina Benest, who was defending Le Masurier, said he was profoundly deaf, of previous good character, had pleaded guilty on the first occasion and had several references.
Prosecuting, Lauren Hallam told the court how Miss O’Connor set up a fake profile on Grindr on January 7 under the false name of ‘Benny’ and registered the age as being 18, due to the application rules, INN gathered.
Benest said he had been in a relationship for 20 years and never had a previous underage encounter or any ‘general sexual interest in children.’
She said Le Masurier took full responsibility for his actions and understood how he had broken the law, for which he offered an ‘unreserved apology.’
She added: ‘He knows nothing beyond what is expressly explained to him. There is no white noise for him, no TV, no radio, no general conversation, no eavesdropping. There is no osmosis by which he can learn society’s rules.’
She explained that his first language is the British Sign Language (BSL) and that English is foreign to him and needs to be translated.
In addition she said his command of English was equivalent to that of a seven or eight-year-old child.
Advocate Benest told the court that there was no information about any prison officer having even a basic command of BSL. She said that as a result of his conviction, Le Masurier lost his job, lost his partner and was ‘ostracised by the community.’
She told the court: ‘He had never came across the word ”grooming” before and it is something that had to be explained at length to him during his interview. This has been a shocking and frightening experience for him.’
He was also made the subject of a five-year restraining order limiting his use of computers and also told that it will be at least five years before he can apply to be removed from the Sex Offenders Register.
Speaking after the case Miss O’Connor said: ‘I don’t think it should have been reduced just because he was deaf. What difference does it make if it is five months or 12 months inside. He is still going to get the same grief.’
INN gathered that the excuses used by Robert in court were appalling, ”I didn’t understand the number 13” along with ”A light bulb clicked and I realised what I had done while waiting to meet him”.
‘Bearing in mind, this man stayed 20 mins longer than the child did and also had arranged another meet the following day.” O’Connor explained.
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