Senior NHS worker sentenced for arranging to meet a child for sex

A senior NHS worker who arranged to meet with a 14-year-old boy to have sex has been jailed for three years today (13 January 2023).

Robin Hains, 47, from Bognor Regis, thought he was communicating with a 14-year-old boy on social media platforms Grindr and KIK, but he was actually exchanging messages with an undercover police officer.

Hains was specifically looking for submissive boys who needed cash. He asked how old the boy was, and despite being told he was 14-years-old, continued to send sexualised messages and arranged to meet him at what he thought would be the boy’s home address in Southampton.

When he arrived in Southampton, Hains was arrested by police officers and found in possession of sex paraphernalia and two phones. When the phones were examined as part of the investigation, indecent images of children were found, as well as Grindr conversations with other people which left no doubt of his intention to meet with the boy to have sex that day.

Harvey Withecombe, CPS Wessex Senior Crown Prosecutor, said: “Hains claimed that he thought he was meeting with a 16-year-old boy and that his vile communications were just an exaggerated fantasy, but we could prove from the evidence on his phone that this was not the case.

“Thankfully, on this occasion, he was communicating with an undercover police officer rather than a real child – but there is no doubt that Robin Hains is a sexual predator.

“Anyone thinking of taking that first dreadful step of trying to contact a child for sex needs to know they are committing a serious offence, regardless of who they are communicating with.”