Locations
Carmel, Holywell, Flintshire, LL54
Description
This is the moment a man jailed for inciting children to have sex is confronted by paedophile hunters.
John Derek Sandham was snared in Denbighshire by The Hunted, a vigilante group.
Sandham, 37, tried to incite two young "girls" to send intimate photos of themselves over the internet.
The bricklayer, of Carmel, near Holywell thought he was talking to an 11-year-old girl called Sarah and a 13-year-old girl called Elle in April and May last year.
But they were adults posing as youngsters.
Calling himself David and claiming to be from Rhyl, Sandham sent intimate photographs and pornographic videos and asked the "girls" to send him images of themselves.
After collecting the evidence from online chat logs the group traced Sandham through a swingers' website and arranged to meet him last June.
They filmed their 30 minute confrontation with Sandham who was found to be wearing female underwear.
Clearly shaken Sandham he lay on the ground covering his face throughout the 30-minute video.
The police had been alerted and the video ends with officers arriving and arresting Sandham.
When interviewed Sandham insisted he believed the people he was communicating with were adults pretending to be children.
But his mobile phone was seized and forensically examined and evidence was found that Sandham had been downloading indecent images of children and distributing some of them to others.
At Mold Crown Court earlier this week he admitted charges of attempting to incite children to engage in sexual activity and sexual communication, distributing indecent images of children, possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornographic images.
He was jailed for 42 months and his details will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Judge Niclas Parry said the offences were serious because he had targeted two young girls and had been persistent in communicating with them.
Mercifully no children were harmed because there were no children, he added.
Prosecutors used evidence provided by paedophile hunters in more than 250 cases against suspected abusers in 2018