Steven Allan 42

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Steven Allan, of County Durham, suggested meeting what he thought was a schoolgirl at a bus station, fish shop and near a shop

Vigilantes snared a pervert who wanted to meet a 15-year-old girl for sexual activity.

Steven Allan thought he was talking to a schoolgirl on a dating app but it was actually a member of paedophile hunters Guardians of the North. The group had set up a fake profile on dating app Skout, posing as an 18-year-old called Chelsea.

Allan, pretending to be a 21-year-old called Lee, was told during an online chat that she was 15 but started using sexual language and asked to meet her the following day. Rachel Glover, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court: "He asked to meet her at the bus station in Sunderland the next day and meet at the fish shop today. He also asked to meet at the green near B&M and she agreed to this. He continued to send sexual messages."

Another member of Guardians of the North, posing as a 27-year-old woman, then communicated with Allan and arranged to meet him. He was arrested when he attended and his mobile phone was seized and showed the chats he'd had with Chelsea.

When interviewed by police, he said he had used his brother's photograph and an image of genitals from the internet. He added: "I know it was wrong."

He added that he had not met a child before and that he had "been speaking to lots of girls" as he was lonely and apologised.

Allan, 40, of Station Road, Wingate, County Durham, pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child, attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence, all between July 25 and 27 2020.

Judge Edward Bindloss said he intended to pass a two year prison sentence but said had he done so Allan would have been released within days with no treatment, having served 11-and-a-half months on remand. He therefore imposed a three year community order with a sex offender treatment programme with rehabilitation. He was also made subject to sex offender registration and a sexual harm prevention order for five years.

Mark Styles, defending, said: "He seems to be functioning with a mild learning disability. He is keen to rehabilitate himself and participate in a programme to get treatment."