Pervert tried to lure 'girl' to his Leeds home during planned city visit for Christmas

A pervert who tried to lure a 13-year-old girl to his home for sex when she said she was visiting Leeds for the Christmas lights has been spared immediate custody.
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Damian Harrison did not realise he was actually talking to a decoy set up by an online paedophile hunter group. He first sent a message to the supposed girl on the social media app, Skout, in early December 2020.

Despite telling him that she was just 13, he quickly turned the conversation to a “sexual nature”, prosecutor Bashir Ahmed told Leeds Crown Court.

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When it was suggested she was planning to visit Leeds for the Christmas event, he again suggested she come to his home for sex.

Harrison pressed the 'girl' to come to his home when she said she was visiting Leeds to see the Christmas lights.Harrison pressed the 'girl' to come to his home when she said she was visiting Leeds to see the Christmas lights.
Harrison pressed the 'girl' to come to his home when she said she was visiting Leeds to see the Christmas lights.

Having switched the conversation to WhatsApp, Harrison’s number was handed to police and he was subsequently arrested.

During his police interview, the 28-year-old admitted he had a Skout account, but became visibly upset and denied any offending, saying other people may have accessed his account when he was asleep.

He eventually pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a girl under 16 into sexual activity.

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The court was told that Harrison, who has one previous but dissimilar conviction, had been assessed and that he had a mental age of a child, and “showed traits” of unstable personality disorder.

No mitigation was offered by his barrister Allan Armbrister after Judge Christopher Batty said he would not send Harrison to prison because of his vulnerabilities.

Judge Batty told Harrison: “You know you should not have done what you did. You accept that. You should go to prison for it, but I’m not going to do that.”

Harrison, of Raynville Rise, Bramley was given a nine-month jail term, suspended for two years, ordered to sign up to an accredited programme to address his sexual offending, and given 40 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

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He was also told to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years, and given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, which will limit his internet access, forbids him to delete his internet search history and requires him to produce his internet devices for police on request.