Former Radio 1 DJ Mark Page ‘tried to meet 13 year old girl in Philippines after messaging about sex acts’
Page, 62, denies five charges of arranging the commission of a child sex offence
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A former BBC Radio 1 DJ flew to the Philippines to try and meet children about messaging them about graphic sex acts, a court heard.
Mark Page, 62, of Ingleby Barwick, denies five charges of arranging the commission of a child sex offence. Three of the charges relate to his alleged webcam activity with Filipino children.
The remaining two relate to meetings Page organised while in the Philippines, Teesside Crown Court heard.
On the second day of his trial, the court was told that Page visited the Philippines in October 2019 and used various online personas and social media pages to talk with women.
Page, a former stadium announcer at Middlesbrough FC, was allegedly an active member on the dating site FilipinoCupid.com - where he is said to have shaved 9 years off his real age - claiming to be aged 52, back in 2019.
Prosecutor Jo Kidd said Page set up a Facebook profile in the name of ‘Thi G’ and is alleged to have used it to contact a 13-year-old girl whilst in the Philippines in March 2019, before promising her 1,000 pesos (£14).
The prosecution claimed that the former DJ was trying to arrange to meet a girl in a shopping centre during his 2019 trip.
He is also said to have messaged a girl ‘How old is she? She come alone’ before agreeing to send 1,000 pesos via Western Union.
In another alleged chat Page is accused of trying to meet a 13-year-old girl and a boy, whilst he was staying at the Prince Plaza II Condotel in Makati.
The court heard that Page sent graphic messages about sex acts he wanted the school children to perform.
Several hours later - the prosecution say after Page met a girl - he is alleged to have texted ‘Thanks Babe’ before transferring 2,000 pesos, the equivalent of £29.
Other alleged chats involved a Filipino woman asking for money for ‘tuition fees’ and other users requesting ‘a load’ - which is said to mean sending credit for a mobile phone.
Page is alleged to have used his Skype account from his former Ingleby Barwick home to carry out explicit video calls with children online.
He is alleged to have asked a 14-year-old girl to carry out sex acts on a 12-year old, but the prosecution say the older girl refused.
On Tuesday the court heard further evidence from PC Stephen Rookes - who told the court that Page had left his computer on and his cloud account signed in, when he and his colleagues raided his home in January of last year.
Police investigator Paul Ripley also took to the witness stand and talked about the different personas Page is alleged to have used online, including ‘Pete124’ and ‘Pancho’ and ‘Garrison1287’.
But Page’s defence barrister Trevor Burke QC told the court that his client’s dating profile stated that he wanted to meet a single woman, who did not have children and was between the ages of 25 and 34.
Mr Burke said that users of the Filipino cupid site have to be over 18; as does anyone collecting money from a Western Union account.
The court heard that Page has been divorced since 2007 and has cared for his three children since then.
Page has denied the allegations and the trial is expected to continue till the end of the week.