A man, who sent explicit images to a child and attempted to meet her, has been jailed.  

On 27 November 2025, Paul Donaldson, 28, was arrested by officers at Stafford train station where he had arranged to meet who he believed to be a teenage girl. 

Staffordshire Police said: "When we seized his phone, we found that he had been communicating with an online account of a teenage girl.  

"Donaldson asked her for her age, which was 13, but he still persisted in sending an explicit photo of himself and arranging to meet her at the train station, where they would then go to a nearby hotel. 

"When he was brought into custody, Donaldson answered no comment to our questions.  

"But, we still had all the evidence needed to charge him with a number of offences." 

At an earlier court hearing, Donaldson, from Stafford, pleaded guilty to arranging the commission of a child sexual offence, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and sending a photograph of genitals to cause alarm, distress or humiliation. 

On Tuesday 10 March, he was sentenced to two-years-and-six-months in prison at Stafford Crown Court .  

advertisement

He was also put on the Sex Offenders Register for life and given a 20-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. 

Detective Constable Georgina Brotherhood, from our police online investigations team, said: "Donaldson was persistent in his pursuit of this person and has rightfully been brought to justice for his actions. 

"We're working extremely hard every single day in Staffordshire to build and action intelligence against those who pose a risk to children and vulnerable people in our communities, and this is another example of that."