Lee Jones' bid to have intimacy with children cost him a prison sentence. It turned out that, rather than chatting to actual young girls online, and sending one a photo of his private parts, he was actually conversing with paedophile hunters.
Jones, 42, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, relating to each decoy.
Judge Michael Longman jailed him or two-and-a-half years. He told Jones: "You believed they were young girls but they were decoys."
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Jones was handed a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order designed to stop him reoffending. He was ordered to register his whereabouts to police indefinitely.
Ehsanul Oarith, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court an operative for paedophile trackers Elite Hunters presented herself on Facebook as a girl aged 12. The court heard Jones friend requested her and, within a day or so, innocent conversation turned to sexual chat.
Mr Oarith said Jones originally purported to be aged 14, but then said he was aged 40. After sending the 'girl' a photo of his penis he suggested they meet in Birmingham.
Mr Oarith told the court: "(The operative) passed the defendant's details to a group in Bristol. They went to an address and confronted him via a live stream."
The court heard Jones was arrested and examinaion of his phone revealed he had chatted online to a second decoy, presenting herself as aged 14. In a similar way to the first 'girl' Jones told her he was aged 16, before saying he was aged 35.
Jones went on to say he was interested in having sex with the 'child' and attempted to meet her. Analysis of his phone revealed he had listed the first decoy as "my girlfriend" and the second decoy as "my second girlfriend".
Edward Hollingsworth, defending, said: "These are attempted offences. Penetrative sexual activity is intended, that is there. He has presented himself as a younger child. He does come clean as to his age at a later stage."
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