Link: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/teachers-filthy-conversations-what-thought-33197752
Credit: Jason Evans Court and crime reporter, Wales Online, 16:36, 09 Jan 2026
Archive: https://archive.ph/wip/odPaa
When police knocked on his door, the teacher tried to destroy evidence by restoring his phone to its factory settings (Image: PA)
A teacher sent sexual messages and videos to someone he believed to be a 12-year-old boy, a court has heard. When police turned up at the defendant's house to arrest him he desperately tried to destroy evidence by restoring his phone to factory settings then lying to officers that the device was simply "updating".
Swansea Crown Court heard that 32-year-old Hefin Davies had actually been chatting with an undercover police officer operating a decoy account on a dating site.
The judge told the defendant that it was only by luck that the recipient of his "filthy conversations" had been a decoy and not a real child.
Hannah George, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that in October 2024 Davies initiated contact with a profile on the networking site Hornet using the name "Eric" to disguise his identity.
She said profile told the defendant he was 12 years old and the defendant acknowledged the significant disparity in age and commented that it did not concern him. In fact the boy's profile was a decoy being run by an online undercover police officer.
The court heard that the pair began communicating on the Snapchat messaging app and defendant sent multiple sexually suggestive and explicit photographs and videos to the decoy, including photographs of his erect penis and videos of him masturbating.
Davies also sent the decoy photographs and videos of young males engaging in sexual activity, and asked the decoy to send him pictures.
The court heard that on October 24, 2024, police officers attended at the 32-year-old defendant's home address and, after a short period of time, Davies answered the door.
The defendant's phone was located and seized, and he told officers that the device was "updating" but it quickly became apparent that he had deliberately initiated a factory reset on the device in an attempt to dispose of any evidence.
The prosecutor said police also found a computer magazine in the property with articles about using the Tor private internet browser, about how to disguise a user's location, how to download files anonymously, and how to create fake online identities.
Davies was arrested and made no reply to caution. The defendant was taken to Dafen police station where he refused to reveal the PIN for devices found at his house and then answered "no comment" to all questions asked in interview.
Hefin Davies, of Cwmgarw Road, Upper Brynamman, Carmarthenshire, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
He had originally also been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to the factory reset of his phone but that charge was not pursued on his plea on the full facts to the communication offence. The defendant has no previous convictions
Scott Tuppin, for Davies, said the defendant had been university-qualified young man "with a bright future ahead of him" yet had engaged in the concerning and "criminal and high-risk behaviour" the court had heard about.
He said the pre-sentence report detailed how in his earlier life his client had become "desensitised to pornographic material".
The barrister said his client had been "technically employed" as a teacher but did not have contact with children at the time of his arrest, and he said Davies realises "his days of working with young people are behind him; his days of being in a position of trust with young people are behind him".
He said Davies was willing to engage with counselling and other professional services "to get to the bottom of why he behaved in the way he did" and said in his submission there were "extremely good" prospects of rehabilitation.
Judge Huw Rees told Davies that is was only by luck that the recipient of his "filthy conversations" had been a police decoy account and not a real child.
He said at the time of the offending Davies would have been known in the community of Upper Brynamman as a teacher and "to the hungry knowledge of people in a small community" his "demise" would be known to others.
The judge said based on everything he had read and heard he was satisfied that it was not a case where appropriate punishment could only be met by immediate imprisonment.
With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Davies was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for 18 months and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work.
The defendant will be a registered sex offender for 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same period of time.
Credit: Jason Evans Court and crime reporter, Wales Online, 16:36, 09 Jan 2026
Archive: https://archive.ph/wip/odPaa
When police knocked on his door, the teacher tried to destroy evidence by restoring his phone to its factory settings (Image: PA)
A teacher sent sexual messages and videos to someone he believed to be a 12-year-old boy, a court has heard. When police turned up at the defendant's house to arrest him he desperately tried to destroy evidence by restoring his phone to factory settings then lying to officers that the device was simply "updating".
Swansea Crown Court heard that 32-year-old Hefin Davies had actually been chatting with an undercover police officer operating a decoy account on a dating site.
The judge told the defendant that it was only by luck that the recipient of his "filthy conversations" had been a decoy and not a real child.
Hannah George, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that in October 2024 Davies initiated contact with a profile on the networking site Hornet using the name "Eric" to disguise his identity.
She said profile told the defendant he was 12 years old and the defendant acknowledged the significant disparity in age and commented that it did not concern him. In fact the boy's profile was a decoy being run by an online undercover police officer.
The court heard that the pair began communicating on the Snapchat messaging app and defendant sent multiple sexually suggestive and explicit photographs and videos to the decoy, including photographs of his erect penis and videos of him masturbating.
Davies also sent the decoy photographs and videos of young males engaging in sexual activity, and asked the decoy to send him pictures.
The court heard that on October 24, 2024, police officers attended at the 32-year-old defendant's home address and, after a short period of time, Davies answered the door.
The defendant's phone was located and seized, and he told officers that the device was "updating" but it quickly became apparent that he had deliberately initiated a factory reset on the device in an attempt to dispose of any evidence.
The prosecutor said police also found a computer magazine in the property with articles about using the Tor private internet browser, about how to disguise a user's location, how to download files anonymously, and how to create fake online identities.
Davies was arrested and made no reply to caution. The defendant was taken to Dafen police station where he refused to reveal the PIN for devices found at his house and then answered "no comment" to all questions asked in interview.
Hefin Davies, of Cwmgarw Road, Upper Brynamman, Carmarthenshire, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
He had originally also been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to the factory reset of his phone but that charge was not pursued on his plea on the full facts to the communication offence. The defendant has no previous convictions
Scott Tuppin, for Davies, said the defendant had been university-qualified young man "with a bright future ahead of him" yet had engaged in the concerning and "criminal and high-risk behaviour" the court had heard about.
He said the pre-sentence report detailed how in his earlier life his client had become "desensitised to pornographic material".
The barrister said his client had been "technically employed" as a teacher but did not have contact with children at the time of his arrest, and he said Davies realises "his days of working with young people are behind him; his days of being in a position of trust with young people are behind him".
He said Davies was willing to engage with counselling and other professional services "to get to the bottom of why he behaved in the way he did" and said in his submission there were "extremely good" prospects of rehabilitation.
Judge Huw Rees told Davies that is was only by luck that the recipient of his "filthy conversations" had been a police decoy account and not a real child.
He said at the time of the offending Davies would have been known in the community of Upper Brynamman as a teacher and "to the hungry knowledge of people in a small community" his "demise" would be known to others.
The judge said based on everything he had read and heard he was satisfied that it was not a case where appropriate punishment could only be met by immediate imprisonment.
With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Davies was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for 18 months and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work.
The defendant will be a registered sex offender for 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same period of time.
