Hartlepool pervert jailed at Teesside Crown Court after vigilante group used decoy pretending to be 12
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Lee Wright-King, 34, from Hartlepool, walked into a trap on the town's railway station where he was confronted by men from the group STOP and police.
In his pocket he was carrying a sex toy and lubricant.
Wright-King had been in daily contact for weeks with two ‘girls’ aged 12 and 14 who were women working with the group operating to catch paedophiles menacing children.
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Hide AdHe used an alias to groom the decoys, offering to meet the elder one in Wales before settling for a meeting with the ‘12 year old’ in Middlesbrough and then Hartlepool on September 20.
In answer to his questions, she said that she had never had a boyfriend and she did not know how to kiss.
Wright-King said he would take her into the woods for sex, said prosecutor Emma Atkinson.
He asked her to wear a summer dress and he said that he could not wait to meet her, Teesside Crown Court was told.
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Hide AdChristine Egerton, defending, said in mitigation that he had only one previous conviction for a relatively minor offence of shoplifting.
She added: “It is fortunate that there was no actual child to be involved here.
“He has expressed genuine remorse and he is well-disposed to carrying our work to address his offending
“He tells me that he is determined not to be involved in any sort of this behaviour again.”
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Hide AdJudge Jonathan Carroll told Wright-King, who appeared over a videolink from Durham Prison: “You put these decoy girls under a degree of pressure not to reveal your existence because you knew full well what would happen."
Wright-King of Straker Street, was jailed for 27 months, given a 15-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning contact with children and was ordered to register as a sex offender for an identical period.
He pleaded guilty to two offences of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and one of attempting to meet a child for sex.
The judge ordered the destruction of the sex toy and lubricant.