Convicted rapist travelled from Blackpool to Leeds to meet underage girl
A rapist freed on licence tried to meet a young girl in Leeds after travelling from his home in Blackpool.
Chris Warhurst groomed the supposed child but was confronted by a paedophile hunter group when he travelled the 85 miles to West Yorkshire.
He was handed a new jail sentence at Leeds Crown Court.
The court heard that the 40-year-old had messaged the decoy profile on January 14 this year.
He asked the 14-year-old if she was a virgin, and over the course of three days, agreed to travel to Leeds and book a hotel.
He told her not to tell anyone because he “could go to prison” and said he “needed to be careful”.
He arranged to meet her and was live streamed by the hunter group that confronted him near the hotel in Leeds on January 17.
Warhurst, of Acre Mead, Chapel Road, Blackpool, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and arranging the commission of a child sex offence.
He has 13 previous convictions for 29 offences.
Significantly, he was jailed for 12 years for committing rape in 2018. He was recalled to prison after his arrest for the latest offences.
Little mitigation was offered by his barrister Imran Khan, who pointed out that there was no actual child involved.
Judge Howard Crowson said there was “grooming” and a “degree of planning”.
He jailed Bennett for 27 months, which will run concurrently to his existing sentence.
He was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to curb his internet use. He is already on the sex offender register for life.