A man and his girlfriend who fantasised about drugging and raping young children in a graveyard have been jailed.
Stuart Compton, 46, and Tracy Turner, 52, who sickeningly dubbed themselves Bonnie and Clyde, sent about 100,000 messages discussing the rape and abuse of three different children.
Officers spent weeks probing messages relating to two girls and a boy under the age of 13.
Two of the children were aged 8 and one of them was aged 12 when Compton and Turner started discussing them.
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard how there was an ‘extraordinary amount’ of messages related to ‘discussing sexual depravity involving children’.
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The messages sent over several months showed a ‘clear attempt to arrange and commit sexual activities’ with the children.
Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said ‘fantasy plainly turned into obsession’ as Compton described in messages ‘graphic accounts of what he wanted to do’ with individual children.
Messages also showed Compton was interested in children aged one to six.
Compton and Turner even discussed via message going to festivals so they could be around children.
The pair shook their heads in the court as graphic details were read out to them.
Mr Cobbe said: ‘Turner suggests a family festival, not too expensive.’
Compton described it as a great idea, commenting he would like to go to a ‘hippy one, where lots of drugs are consumed leaving unattended girls’.
‘That’s genius babe,’ he added.
The court also heard that brutal acts were planned against the children in places like a shed and a graveyard.
The pair discussed the ‘disposal’ of a child if their attack had led to a ‘fatal conclusion’ with Compton saying he would take full responsibility if that happened.
Another plan included drugging one of the children with a sleeping pill before abusing them.
Mr Cobbe said it was clear Compton ‘wanted the plan to go ahead’.
After a concern was raised about Compton because of messages from him on a dating app he was arrested in December 2024.
Turner was also arrested with the pair initially denied any wrongdoing.
They also both denied conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to rape and conspiracy to kidnap at the time.
Compton has now admitted making and distributing images of child abuse by sending images to ‘like-minded people’.
Personal impact statements were read out in court from the parents of the children.
One mum said it was ‘gut-wrenching and sickening. I lost my appetite and was upset and sick all the time.’
She added that the thought ‘of what could have happened to our child by two people with monstrous sexual intent is unfathomable’.
The dad of another child said: ‘The pain they have put me and my family through is incomprehensible. It’s harder than losing my mother.’
Kevin Seal, representing Compton, insisted his client had expressed remorse for his actions in a pre-sentence report.
A doctor diagnosed Compton with a compulsive sexualised behaviour disorder, which involves intense preoccupation with sexual fantasies and behaviours.
Nicola Powell, representing Turner, told the court she had ended the relationship with Compton as soon as she was arrested and had no contact with him since.
‘She had worked as a senior theatre assistant in the NHS for over 30 years without a blemish on her character,’ he added.
Sentencing Compton, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told him ‘it is clear you were the driving force in the messages’ and he ‘did not accept the seriousness’ of his offending.
She said the messages were ‘not pure fantasy’ as they both clearly intended to carry out ‘brutal’ abuse and their actions had ‘devastated the families’ of the children.
‘You were both sexually aroused by the idea of raping a child,’ she added.
Compton previously admitted six charges of arranging the commission of child sex offences while Turner previously admitted six charges of arranging the commission of child sex offences, and two charges of making indecent images of a child.
Compton has been sentenced to life in prison while Turner will face 12 years in prison plus another two on licence.
He will serve a minimum tariff of seven years before he can apply for parole.
Turner will be eligible for parole after serving two thirds of her sentence.
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