Paedophile stung by hunter group after targeting '12-year-old girl'

Matthew Griffiths believed he was in conversation with a 12-year-old, but was in fact speaking with a hunter group looking to entrap predators looking for children over the internet, Leeds Crown Court was told.

He told her he was from Wakefield, and she told him she was from Newcastle, but repeatedly told him that she was only 12.

He asked her what she wearing asked her to take her nightie off and then progressed to asking her to sexually touch herself.

He woke up in the early hours of the next morning and messaged her again, making further suggestive comments.

However, the hunter group confronted him later that day before phoning the police.

Griffiths, of Annie Street, Outwood, was arrested and taken to Normanton Police Station where he told officers during interview that he thought she was 18.

He eventually admitted two counts of attempting to incite a child into sexual activity.

Mitigating, Michael Devlin, said that Griffiths had never committed such crimes before and had not done since.

He said: "It was one conversation over a relatively short period of time, an as we know these things can often go on for months and months.

"It's been three years since then, but that's not his fault or the police's, it's the nature of these investigations.

"Since that time he has stopped drinking and come off the internet and social media. He has taken steps to distance himself."

Judge Mushtaq Khokhar jailed him for 28 months and said: "It was a decoy but just imagine if it was a 12-year-old.

"It was quite clear what was in your mind. She pointed out right from the start she was 12.

"The sentence can't be suspended I'm afraid."

Griffiths was told to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years, and was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order which limits his internet use and allows officers to monitor any electronic devices he possesses.