A convicted rapist has been jailed after a paedophile hunter caught him by posing as a 14-year-old girl on a popular dating site.
The vigilante pretended to be “Little Laura” on Badoo, chatting to the 54-year-old felon, Carl Wood, on the online dating site.
Early on in their conversations, “Laura” told Wood she was 14 years old, after which the convicted rapist continued to send her sexually-orientated and suggestive messages, such as asking for a picture of Laura in her school uniform.
After their conversations continued, prosecutor Nicholas Askins told the court that Wood “expressed concern the police might be monitoring their conversations and gave her his mobile phone number telling her to store it under a girl’s name in her phone so they could communicate by text.”
The unnamed vigilante then tried to entice Wood to a park where he had previously exposed another man, but Wood declined, instead asking “Laura” to his own house.
As reported by the Yorkshire Post, Wood’s defence, Robin Frieze, said: “There has been no history of child sexual activity in the past and the pre-sentence report suggests he has the capacity to work within the sex offender treatment programme in the community.”
Wood was jailed for 22 months after admitting to attempting to incite a child to sexual activity.