Psychotherapist Giles Dee-Shapland, 51, did not know the under-age youngster had been created in a citizen-led operation, believing he was communicating with a genuine teenager.
After engaging in sexually-explicit conversations with the ‘boy’ Dee-Shapland was detained in a sting operation.
After a trial at Isleworth Crown court the jury of six men and six women unanimously convicted him on two counts and Dee-Shapland was bailed to return for sentencing on December 4.
According to his online biography he studied at Exeter; Greenwich and Kingston Universities, is Harley Street-trained and specialises in trauma and psychosexual disorder.
Dee-Shapland, of Walham Green Court, Cedarne Road, Fulham describes himself as ‘Sexpert at SimplySxy’.
Before the trial he pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity on September 19, 2020.
The jury found him guilty of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child on August 8, 2020 and attempting to meet a child on October 3, 2020 after grooming.
“One has to take into account there was not a real child and it was an attempt. That has to be taken into consideration,” said Dee-Shapland’s lawyer Helen Butcher.
Asking that the sentences on each of the three counts are not added together she added: “There is a degree of totality that has to be taken into account.
“This is a man in his early fifties, without any convictions and my application is for a pre-sentence report.
“I ask for bail to continue. These offences date back to 2020 and nothing has arisen since and there was nothing on his devices that were seized.”
Judge Lindsey Rose announced: “There are also issues about his mental and physical health and in the circumstances I should have a pre-sentence report.
“I want to consider the risk of harm and re-offending and to know what risk this defendant poses.”
Dee-Shapland is already on the sex offenders register, having pleaded guilty to one count in July, last year and the prosecution confirmed they will be applying for a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Judge Rose told Dee-Shapland, who uses a walking-stick and was accompanied by a male companion: “You will be sentenced by me for the offence you pleaded guilty to and the two offences the jury convicted you of.
“I want to have information from the Probation Service regarding your background and risk and you should have no illusions as to how I deal with your case.
“I have custody in mind. These are very serious offences.”
10 comments:
Wow. What a nasty piece of work, the lowest of the low. His friends and family should disown him for being in utter denial about his perverse sexual interest in children. It's a shame parent's and children at risk in London, St Ives, and other areas he stays won't automatically be aware of the predatorial danger he poses!
I knew of this self-important creep at university. Always going on about how awful lower class people are, and thinking he is above others. His parents and family must be totally ashamed. Disgusting.
Disgusting creature
Filth
What was the outcome of the sentencing?
Leave Giles alone. You only have read what you have seen on a blog post, bare that in mind.
Wow, he was no middle or upper class chap anyway, only trying to force his way into those circles with claims he thought they needed his help, always trying to wiggle his way past people’s boundaries into topics that were highly inappropriate. The relief I feel at seeing this, seeing that ultimately years later, he got some kind of consequence for his behaviour, that is immense. I don’t doubt that this started off with him perhaps being maligned by those in power when he too was a child, as there are some he knew through church guilty of even worse.
I think you will find that these comments are written by people who boundaries he has tried to push, or those who lived or worked with him. Everyone is here for the same reason, hoping he will get what is needed in order that he doesn’t continue to harm anyone in any way further going forward. Not everyone who harms is aware that is what they are doing. This denial or lack of self awareness is where the risk lies, for continuation odds the same.
This is a deeply troubling case that highlights the critical importance of ethics in therapy. It’s a reminder that trust is central to all forms of counseling, including online sex therapy, where privacy and professional standards must be upheld at the highest level. Thank you for reporting on this important issue.
I was deeply shaken reading about onlinesextherapy a trained psychosexual therapist and church youth worker—who attempted to groom what he believed was a 13-year-old boy, only to be arrested in a citizen-led sting operation. His dual roles—as counselor and youth leader—highlight the profound betrayal of trust that can occur when professionals violate boundaries meant to protect children. I found the trial details harrowing: guilty on two counts—attempting to engage in sexual communication and attempting to meet a child—after previously pleading guilty to another count. It’s alarming that someone with his professional credentials could exploit both the church context and his therapeutic authority to manipulate a vulnerable minor.
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