A FORMER chairman of Ilkley Parish Council has gone on trial accused of grooming young boys on the internet with a view to meeting them for sexual activity.

A jury at Bradford Crown Court was told that Heathcliffe Bowen, 50, faces charges linked to a “series of sexual offences” alleged to have taken place from 2013 to 2015.

Prosecutor Christopher Rose told the court that Bowen’s alleged offending arose from online conversations he had engaged in using Skype.

He said some of the allegations involved attempting to engage “young teenage men” in sexual activity, including “meeting men for sex.”

He told the jury that police had identified one of the people Bowen had communicated with as a 15 year-old boy.

Mr Rose said: “The conversations make it obvious that they were regularly meeting up for sex, for which sometimes the defendant paid.”

The jury heard that other people involved in the conversations had not been identified, but Mr Rose said: “It was obvious that the defendant thought he was talking to children.”

The court was told that Bowen felt his interactions online were “completely devoid of reality” and “complete fantasy”, stating he never intended any meetings to happen.

Mr Rose said that Bowen accepted sending pornographic images to others, but stated they were not of children.

He said: “The prosecution say that when you see the pictures, they plainly are”, adding that the content was “highly sexually explicit.”

Mr Rose said that in one Skype conversation, Bowen discussed meeting up with one boy, who gave his age as 14 years old, in an alleyway in Northampton in order to have sex.

In another, he invited a boy who told him he was in year 8 at school to have unprotected sex if he ever visited Leeds.

One Skype exchange involved an internet user in New York, who Bowen sent pictures to and described a sexual encounter he had enjoyed with a 15-year-old boy.

During the conversation, Bowen said: “I’m used to seeing younger men. Bit pervy I know, but I prefer younger boys.”

Bowen was also said to have offered to take the virginity of one boy who told him online he was aged just 12.

Mr Rose said Bowen told the boy: “Just let me know when and where, and we can do it.”

In another web exchange in May 2015, Bowen was said to have masturbated on camera while a 15-year-old boy watched.

Referring to one set of conversations with another 15-year-old boy in 2014, Mr Rose said: “What is absolutely apparent is that the two planned to meet, and conversations showed them making their way to a meeting in the early hours of the 4th of September.”

Mr Rose said that later exchanges appeared to show that the pair continued to “regularly meet and have sex” beyond the boy’s 16th birthday.

He said: “The Crown say that the fact they had sex is obvious. It is absolutely evident from the tenor of the conversations they had.”

In a second set of offences, Bowen is accused of sending indecent images to various other different internet users in 2015.

The jury was told that when one recipient asked how old a boy in one of the pictures was, Bowen replied: “Just 15 when those were taken.”

Referring to the pictures, Mr Rose said: “The defendant admits sending them out, but denies they show children. The prosecution say the images are all sexually pornographic involving children.”

The jury was told that Bowen had already pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing indecent images of children, linked to material recovered from a laptop taken by police when he was arrested at this home address.

Mr Rose said of the disclosure: “It supports the contention that he is someone who is sexually attracted to young males. The prosecution say it is more likely he would have pursued what he was talking about online.”

During his first police interview, Bowen, who the jury heard had a background of working in safeguarding and child protection, told officers that he was gay but had “no interest” in young boys.

In a further interview, he said that the conversations over the internet were simply a “means of release”, but admitted that the situation had become “dodgy.”

He said he used “bravado” and engaged in the chats for the benefit of those he was talking to.

He was said to have told officers: “I needed that contact with people. I ended up playing a role in a bizarre internet drama. I know now it was an addiction I was getting into.”

Bowen denies four charges of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, one of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence, one of attempting to meet a child for sexual activity, one of attempting to cause a child to look at an image of sexual activity, and three charges of distributing indecent images of children.

The defendant served on Ilkley Parish Council for 18 years, and was its chairman three times until his retirement in March 2016.

On his LinkedIn profile, his career history states that he worked as an administrator for Bradford Council for nearly 20 years from 1995 to 2014, working in the social services department and on the Bradford Safeguarding Children Board.

The page gives his current employment as a freelance academic and historical researcher, focusing on the military history of the 19th and 20th centuries, and a private tutor.

The trial continues.