Description
A paedophile claimed he tried to meet a '14-year-old boy' for sex when he was grieving for his Chelsea football star stepdad.
Lee Stride, whose stepfather was Blues defender David Stride, has been spared jail after he arranged to meet who he thought was a teenage boy he had been chatting to on Grindr.
When he arrived to meet the youngster he was confronted by paedophile hunters from the group TRAP.
Southampton Crown Court heard supermarket worker Stride had struck up a conversation on Grindr.
Prosecutor James Kellam said that after the 'boy' said he was 14, Stride continued to talk to him and sent intimate pictures of himself.
Mr Kellam said: "You will be familiar with cases where self-appointed guardians of society - as they see it - set up profiles on dating websites.
"The defendant fell into conversation with a man with an individual profile on Grindr and who told him he was 14.
"Despite having heard that, the defendant continued to talk to him and to send him pictures, which he himself admits [are his genitalia]."
Mr Kellam added it was "quite clear" the exchange concluded with the pair arranging to meet to have sex.
The court heard when Stride arrived at the arranged meeting point, he was challenged by two men who told him police were on their way.
A video of the confrontation was also posted online, which was viewed more than 800,000 times.
Stride, of no fixed abode, admitted one count of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.
Defending, Mark Florida-James told the court this was an 'unusual' and 'sad' case.
Mr Florida-James said Stride was grieving for his stepfather, who had recently died of a heart attack.
David Stride played 35 times for Chelsea before going on to play for a number of teams in the North American Soccer League.
He added: "[Stride] has gone from a respectable member of the community to someone who will hang his head in shame for a long time to come."
Sentencing him to 12-months behind bars, suspended for two years, Judge Gary Burrell QC told Stride that his wife standing by him was one of the factors that had spared him an immediate jail term.
The judge said: "You have the support of your family.
"In particular, your wife who states, 'I still love my husband and want to support him through the difficult time he is going through, including working on our marriage'.
"In this case there were no real victims. Nevertheless you did not know that and you thought you were in contact with a 14-year-old boy.
"You sent photos which was a particularly stupid thing to do.
"You are very lucky to have that support from your wife. She has stood by you in these most difficult of circumstances."
Stride was placed on the sex offenders' register and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for five years.