Paedophile living in Leeds lured into meeting woman from hunter group
A paedophile who told an underage girl online that he wanted to meet and have sex was lured into meeting a woman so he could be arrested.
Achalkumar Pandya latched onto a girl’s profile run by a paedophile hunter group, but when an organised meet with the pervert fell through, the group took a different approach.
They set up another profile, this time of a woman, offering to meet Pandya in Wakefield for the purposes of sex.
Taking the bait, it was there they were able to confront him about his communications with the supposed 14-year-old.
He was jailed at Leeds Crown Court after admitting attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and attempting to incite an underage girl into sexual activity.
The court heard that the decoy profile of the girl had been set up by the group Confronted and Caught, who attempt to entice paeodphiles out online.
In January of last year, 36-year-old Pandya messaged the profile over Facebook.
They spoke for just over three weeks, told her wanted to kiss her when they met, told her loved her and asked for pictures.
He asked if they “could do sex” when they met, sent her a picture of his erect penis and encouraged her to masturbate.
He suggested they meet but it did not come to fruition. Instead, another member of the group contacted Pandya, and enticed him into meeting her for sex.
Pandya, of Burley Road, Leeds, arrived in Wakefield for the encounter but was confronted by the group who livestreamed the meeting.
Mitigating, Satpal Roth-Sharma said Pandya’s wife had since returned to India with their son, having “suffered gravely” from his offending.
She said had no previous convictions, expresses remorse and regret and faces deportation once he is freed from prison.
The judge, Recorder Jamie Hill KC said Pandya had attempted to “minimise” his involvement, claiming to not know the age on consent and said the supposed girl had contacted him initially - which was a lie.
He said that Pandya was well educated.
He jailed him for three years, gave him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and put him on the sex offender register for life.