Librarian used job to find girl’s number then posed as boy called ‘Gary Barlow’

A librarian has been jailed after posing as a 16-year-old boy called ‘Gary Barlow’ to send explicit messages to a child. 

Glyn Viney, 43, created a fake Snapchat account to talk to the 15-year-old girl after spotting her in the library and using its database to find her. 

Conversations between the pair quickly turned sexual, with Viney asking the girl for sexual images and to carry out sex acts on herself. 

A court heard there were references to ‘sexual gratification’ during the messages, in the context of the victim being ‘in pain’. 

Prosecutor Daniel Sawyer said Viney also demanded videos, and added the victim had ‘disclosed her vulnerabilities’ to him.   

The child eventually alerted her guardian who contacted the police. Viney, who was married but had split from his wife, was arrested in August 2019. 

A Snapchat account and screen recorder app Mobizen were found on his phone. 

Similar conversations with different profiles were also found on the phone, with one victim appearing to be just 13. Police were unable to trace the victims.  

Viney, who worked in a library in Newport on the Isle of Wight, admitted three counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and two of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

He blamed his behaviour on a ‘mental breakdown’ which the judge, recorder Anna Midgley, said was ‘indicative of his shame’. 

Viney added that he knew he was going to prison and did not see himself as a victim. 

Recorder Midgley jailed him for three years and four months, placed him on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely, and made him subject to a sexual harm prevention order for ten years. 

He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £181. 

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.