Paedophile caught targeting young teen found with sex dolls and children's underwear at Leeds flat

Daniel Gresham also attempted to delete his internet history when the police came to arrest him at his Wetherby home.

He was previously jailed in 2020 for abusing a young girl. But the 38-year-old pervert failed to control his sick urges and targeted what he thought was an underage girl on Facebook, Leeds Crown Court heard.

He sent her a Facebook profile a friend request on October 1, but had no idea it was run by paedophile hunter group looking to snare predators.

He asked the supposed 14-year-old for photos of her in her school uniform and he sent her three photos of his penis, telling he “wanted her to touch it”.

Gresham also sent a photo of his face, with the hunter group able to use recognition software to identify him and pass his details onto police, prosecutor David Ward told the court.

They went to this flat on Westgate in Wetherby and knocked on his door, but he took several minutes to answer, with the police later claiming he was trying to delete his internet history in that time.

They also found the concerning items. He was arrested and admitted a charge of attempting sexual communication with a child and breach of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

The order, which lasts for 15 years, was imposed after his 2020 conviction, designed to curb his internet use.

He was jailed for three years on that occasion for abusing a young girl, along with making and distributing indecent images.

Gresham appeared in court this week via video link from HMP Leeds where he was being held on remand.

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Mitigating, Erin Kitson-Parker said Gresham’s best point were his guilty pleas. She said that he was a hard worker who had been employed as a chef in Wetherby.

She said he had never previously been enrolled on a sex offender programme, and asked the judge to give him “once chance”.

But Judge Ray Singh felt there was little hope of rehabilitation given his past, and that a probation report found that Gresham posed as “high risk of serious harm” to young girls.

He jailed him for 22 months and told him his SHPO will remain in place.