Friday, May 2, 2025
A man has been jailed after approaching schoolgirls and making sexualised comments in Blackpool, in 2023.
Cash McLaughlin (pictured below) was sentenced yesterday at Sessions House, Preston.
On Thursday 25th May, we received a 999 call from a then-15-year-old girl, on her way to school. The girl told us that as she was making her way down Daggers Hall Lane, she was approached by McLaughlin in a van, asking for her phone number, and to borrow a lighter.
He then continued to make sexualised comments towards the girl. She walked away, immediately contacting police. McLaughlin then began to call her phone, after she gave him her number out of fear.
Later that morning, we received a report from a school in Blackpool that a student, who at the time was 14, had similarly been approached, as she made her way home from school, feeling poorly. The second victim noticed a van driving behind her on Blackpool Old Road.
McLaughlin then began to shout ‘get in, get in’ at the victim. She told him no, turned around and ran back in the direction of her school. McLaughlin reversed, turned the van around and turned towards her.
Thankfully neither girl was touched or physically harmed.
An investigation commenced, and McLaughlin was identified as the driver of the van. He was arrested on suspicion of and later charged with two counts of attempting to take a child and causing / inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Following a trial, McLaughlin, 34 of Park Way, Rochdale, was unanimously found guilty on all three counts. Yesterday (1st May) he was sentenced to 27 months in prison. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for seven years, and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.
You can make a report to us by calling 101 or using our online portal: Report an Incident - Lancashire Constabulary - Report Online