A PAEDOPHILE hunter group snared a Newent man after he had groomed a fictitious 14-year-old girl on line and was trapped when he went to meet her on a train from Leeds to Gloucester in August this year, a court heard.

Prosecutor Lucie Stoker told Gloucester Crown Court that 50-year-old Christopher Hill of The Tythings, Newent used social media to meet up young looking 14-year-old girl called Sophie, who was in fact a decoy created by a member of the Leeds-based Predator Exposure group.

“Hill had contact with ‘Sophie’ and he was told at the outset that she was aged 14,” said Ms Stoker. “Her profile photograph was definitely that of a young girl. He told the girl he was aged 45.

“Very quickly the conversation moved to WhatsApp, which is encrypted, and Hill requested that the girl send him a picture of herself. He also asked for snaps of her not wearing any clothes and some sexy photographs.

“The decoy did not sent any such imagery and said that she was shy. He sent her a picture of him without his top on and a picture of his biceps. No photographs of genitalia were exchanged.

“Over time a degree of trust gets built up between them and there are elements of grooming from Hill. He revealed he was falling in love with her. He repeatedly requested that she reciprocates that love, but she doesn’t.

“She responds that she couldn’t do that because she hadn’t met him. He frequently asked if he was her first boyfriend.

“The decoy confirms that he was and that all this was her first time. After he had pestered Sophie for some time, she agreed to meet up. Arrangements were made for ‘Sophie’ to travel from Leeds to Gloucester by train. He told her he would take her to a nearby hotel. He sent her a copy of the receipt.

“Hill went to the effort of booking the hotel, and explained that the room was for him and his daughter.  He also promised that when she arrived he would take her shopping. He also bought condoms for her visit. The girl was told that she could look forward to a lot of sex in all of its forms. He was predatory in his behaviour throughout.

“Hill was intercepted by members of the Leeds group at Gloucester Railway Station on August 19 this year and subsequently arrested by police.”

Catherine Spedding, defending, said: “The main point that should be recognised is that ‘Sophie’ was not a real 14-year-old girl, but a decoy operated by a civil group. It would be wrong to sentence him as if he had met up with a real child.

“Hill met ‘Sophie’ on a normal social media site, he was not surfing the internet for this type of material and opportunities.

“In mitigation he was diagnosed with cancer four years ago and underwent treatment but in the aftermath of all this his marriage broke down and he moved out of the family home. He became lonely and was working irregular long shifts which didn’t give him the social integration he was used to.

“As a result he began communicating in the way he did. He bitterly regrets this and he realises now that he has learnt his lesson.

“Whilst he has been remanded in custody he has become a mentor and has helped in the production of T shirts. He wants to lead a law-abiding life in the future.”

Hill was sentenced to three years and 11 months in prison and made subject of a 20-year sexual harm prevention order which limits his use of the internet and life-long sex offender registration.

Hill pleaded guilty to attempting to have sexual communication with a child between August 6 and 19, 2023 for the purpose of sexual gratification, attempting to facilitate a child sex offence engaging in sexual activity with 14-year-old girl, attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and travelling to Gloucester train station to meet the 14-year-old.

The judge, Recorder James Watson KC told Hill: “In August you engaged in a course of explicit sexual messaging with what you thought was 14-year-old girl for a couple of weeks, but was in reality a fictitious persona and a decoy operated by a civil group designed to attract people like you who take advantage of real girls of that tender age.

“The content of the messages with ‘Sophie’ was highly sexual and graphic and focused towards a meeting. A meeting that you proposed intending that she should travel some considerable distance to Gloucester to meet you for sex. You described this to her in graphic detail.

“You had offered her incentives by how you would treat her and the presents and money you would give her after you had met her.

“However you went further than simply grooming her. You planned what would take place in a local hotel which you had booked for the purpose of having sex.

“There was a large disparity of ages between you, had she been a real teenager and you expected her to travel a long way from home on her own. She would most likely have suffered a physiological impact from what you were proposing.

“I’ve no doubt that had this been a real 14-year-old you would have carried out what you proposed. Your actions were thwarted by the fact you were intercepted and because Sophie was not a real child.”

The judge also barred Hill from working with children and vulnerable adults in the future.