A man was confronted by an online child activist group who told him the 14-year-old girl he had sent pornographic images was in fact a decoy.
The classic ‘sting’ took place on allotments at Chippenham in East Cambridgeshire, a court heard.
Frank Baldwin had engaged in sexual conversations with the ‘girl’ and had sent her pornographic material.
But it was to an online child activist group to whom he was speaking.
And it was members of that Facebook group that confronted him at Chippenham in August 2021.
He was questioned later by police, arrested, and has now been jailed.
Baldwin, 48, first began talking to the girl, who was actually a decoy from an online child activist group, on Facebook in January 2021.
Baldwin told her he liked her profile picture and made inappropriate comments about her body and the clothes and underwear she was wearing.
In March of that year, he asked the decoy if she, “had had a boy between her legs yet”, and continued to talk to her in this manner, as well as sending her pornographic images and videos.
These chats continued until August 2021 when members of the online child activist group confronted him.
Police were called and Baldwin was arrested.
On Friday (12 May), at Peterborough Crown Court, Baldwin, of School Road, Blackmore End, Braintree, Essex, was jailed for two years and two months.
He pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a girl under 16 to engage in penetrative sexual activity and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.
DC Laura Hutchings said: “Baldwin’s behaviour was highly inappropriate and disturbing.
“We will always do everything we can to bring those who groom children to justice as this type of can cause life-long damage for victims.”
