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		</div><p>A former Coronation Street director who attempted to engage in sexual conversations with a “13-year-old girl” has been spared jail.</p>
<p>Tim Dowd thought he was talking with an underage web user when in fact he was actually having intimate chats with an undercover female police officer, prosecutors said.</p>
<p>The 66-year-old asked the officer, who pretended to be a teenager named Chantelle, to engage in phone sex with him and to send images of her naked breasts.</p>
<p>He also quizzed her on whether she had ever slept with an older man.</p>
<figure id="attachment_128469" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-128469" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/3460AF01-A67B-43F8-85EE-802BAD3DD607.jpeg"><img class="size-full wp-image-128469" src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/3460AF01-A67B-43F8-85EE-802BAD3DD607.jpeg" alt="" width="600" height="915" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-128469" class="wp-caption-text">Dowd was handed a two-year community order</figcaption></figure>
<p>A court heard how he also requested, believing he was talking with an underage girl, that the undercover officer touch herself as he spoke with her on the phone.</p>
<p>Prosecutors explained how the freelance director, who has also worked on episodes of Emmerdale and Heartbeat during a career spanning 30 years, carried on talking to the user despite repeatedly being told she was 13.</p>
<p>Following a three-day trial at Leeds Crown Court, Dowd, of Chatsworth Grove in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, was found guilty of three counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, all relating to a four-day period in January last year.</p>
<p>On Thursday, he was handed a two-year community order, with a maximum 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.</p>
<p>Dowd was also given a five-year sexual harm prevention order and was told to pay prosecution costs of around £1,500.</p>
<p>It is unfortunate that even at the age of 66 you are tormented by your own sexual desires</p>
<p>Giving the sentence, judge Rodney Jameson QC said of the offences: “These were all attempts and they were attempts because there was no 13-year-old child but no doubt in your mind there was.”</p>
<p>Detailing how Dowd’s marriage and relationship with his children had broken down following the offences, he added: “The consequences of this conviction have been severe for you, I accept.</p>
<p>“You have lost, essentially, your employment and in reality any likelihood of being employed further in the high-profile work, as it was, which you were engaged in as a television director.</p>
<blockquote><p>“It is unfortunate that even at the age of 66 you are tormented by your own sexual desires.”</p></blockquote>
<p>The judge added that, although there was technically no victim to Dowd’s crimes, he effectively punished himself with his actions by losing his good character.</p>
<p><a href="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/8FBA4DE8-D1D4-4A79-ADA4-DDB2218AC880.jpeg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-128471" src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/8FBA4DE8-D1D4-4A79-ADA4-DDB2218AC880.jpeg" alt="" width="600" height="405" /></a></p>
<p>A court heard how the conversations started on a site named Lycos Chat when Dowd interacted with a user by the name of Chantelle13Cymru on January 12 last year.</p>
<p>Not realising this was an anonymous undercover officer, Dowd quickly moved the chat on to WhatsApp, before phoning her.</p>
<p>The officer, who gave evidence anonymously during the trial, said she had to input an age above 16 to join Lycos but said she was able to pose as a 13-year-old.</p>
<p>In his defence, Dowd claimed he believed the person he was talking to was an adult pretending to be underage as part of a sexual fantasy, despite frequently seeking clarification on her age.</p>
<p>Jurors heard how he lost his job shortly after being arrested at a property in East Keswick, Leeds, having spoken with the officer between January 12 and January 15 last year.</p>
<p>Max Saffman, defending Dowd, told the court: “His successful career as a television director is finished. There is no way back for him as a result of this conviction.</p>
<p>“Any thought he might have regarding directing further television programmes has been extinguished.”</p>
<p>Mr Saffman said his client had been guilty of “foolish behaviour” but added Dowd had shown no intent to engage in further sexual conversation with the web user.</p>
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