Hartlepool pervert jailed at Teesside Crown Court after vigilante group used decoy pretending to be 12

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.

He 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.

Christine 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.”

Read this: Nine criminals behind bars after committing offences in the Hartlepool area

Judge 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.