A MAN who tried to groom a "teenage girl" was exposed as a paedophile by online vigilantes, Hull Crown Court heard.
Paul Bielby, 50, thought he was talking to a 14-year-old girl called "Laura" during online chats over almost three months.
But when he travelled across Yorkshire to meet her in a public park, his date turned out to be a man from the child protection group Online Paedophile Investigations.
The man filmed him and questioned him before passing his findings onto police.
The next message Bielby, of Aston Road, Willerby, sent "Laura" said: "You've ruined my life."
When Bielby was confronted in Manor Heath Park, Halifax, on August 13 last year, he was already on bail for possessing indecent images of children.
These were found on his mobile phone and computer, and he was arrested after the Child Exploitation and Protection Centre reported him to Humberside Police.
Hull Crown Court heard that when Bielby was chatting to "Laura", he inquired about her school uniform and her dress size, saying he "liked skinny girls" and wanted to "snog her face off".
Bielby also talked about "tickling her".
Arranging to meet her in the park, he told her: "We meet, we get on, we hug, I kiss you. Then I drop you off down your street."
Another girl Bielby was found chatting to told him she had lost her virginity at the age of 13.
He replied: "That's hot. Lucky guy."
Search terms he had used on the internet included "pre-teen pic" and "Lolita gallery".
Bielby sent one of the images to a man called Phil.
When interviewed by police and asked if he recalled sending the image, he said: "I honestly don't know."
Asked about his online conversations about sex, he said: "It was just something to talk about."
He denied having a sexual interest in children.
Bielby admitted two counts of making indecent photographs of children, one of distributing indecent photographs of children, and one of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.
There were ten images in total, with two at the most serious level, Category A. One of the Category A images was of a naked five-year-old girl being sexually abused.
Bielby was described as a "family man" in court. He has no previous convictions.
Anil Murray, defending Bielby, said: "This defendant has for some reason, for a fairly short time, gone off the rails and got himself involved in chat rooms and said despicable things. He's thoroughly ashamed of himself."
Mr Murray said Bielby was under "massive pressure" at work at the time, but had later been sacked.
Sentencing Bielby to a total of 20 months in jail, Recorder Bryan Cox QC said his activity in the chat rooms showed "a clear interest in young girls and an interest in intercourse with young girls".
He said: "It's an aggravating feature of the grooming, that there was grooming with a view to exploring that interest."
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