A married man told a 13-year-old girl he was grooming that she needed to "be careful on the internet because there were paedophiles about on there".
Unknown to John Redmond, 50, the girl was actually a decoy whose profile was put online by a paedophile hunting group.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday, January 24, that the group put a fake profile for “Hannah” on a dating app site and Redmond contacted her.
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In conversations she told him she was 13, and he gave her his true age at the time, which was 48.
They exchanged several messages relating to her pets and her mum.
Derek Jones, prosecuting, said: "Some grooming took place, and in one of the messages he told her she would need to be careful on the internet because there were paedophiles about on there.”
In one conversation she said she was going for a shower and he responded by saying: “I’ll try not to imagine you getting showered.”
Mr Jones said Redmond started talking to her about his own sex life and was talking about swinging and having other partners.
Mr Jones continued: "At one point he said they would meet when she was 16 and said if he touched her before he would go to prison.”
There were a “a couple of messages [that were] more sexualised” and he sent her an explicit image and asked her to send him a sexual picture.
When she declined he said: “It’s fine, it’s up to you who you share photographs with.”
Their conversations spanned a month before he was snared by the group, who posted the false name of an adult female swinger.
He arranged to meet this woman and actually told Hannah about meeting up with the woman and having sex.
Redmond attended as arranged at a park in Clock Face, St Helens and was detained by members of the group and he remained until the police arrived.
Redmond, now 50, who made no comment when interviewed, has no previous convictions.
The defendant, of Weymouth Avenue, St Helens, pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a girl to engage in sexual activity and attempted sexual communication with a child between May 9 and June 6, 2020.
Judge Stuart Driver, QC, sentenced him to two years imprisonment suspended for 18 months and ordered him to carry out 20 days rehabilitation activities. He ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same length of time.
He said that he took into account his good character and his willingness to work with the probation service. He had accepted the decoy’s refusal to send a photo.
Michael Bagley, defending, said that Redmond had shown “a high degree of candour” with the probation service.
He said: "The kind of behaviour he believed he was engaging in is reprehensible and he accepts that. Society needs to know that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated and will be punished."
He urged the judge to suspend any prison sentence as this would benefit Redmond and society. He said Redmond had been under "domestic stress" at the time including his wife suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome.
Mr Bagley said that Redmond “accepted a degree of sexual arousal arising out of his behaviour”.
If he was jailed his wife and daughter would lose their home and as the offences carry “enormous social stigma his life is unlikely to be the same".
He said: “Losing his good name is a punishment and by unpaid work he would be putting something back into society.”
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