Jose Alves 47

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A Facebook predator who planned to have sex with an underage girl on Exmouth beach has been jailed after being trapped by paedophile hunters.

Jose Alves made contact with what he thought were girls aged 11 and 13 on social media and sent them both explicit videos which showed adults having sex with children.

In fact, he had been trapped by a group called Justice4Kids which alerted the police and baited a trap which led him to a proposed meeting at Exmouth railway station, where he was arrested.

Alves suggested having sex with the 13-year-old girl and sent her pictures which he claimed to be of his genitals as well as posting the child abuse movie to her.

He became hooked on online chats at a time when his own marriage was breaking up and he felt isolated, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Alves, aged 46, of Okehampton Road, Exeter, admitted two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child, three of making, by downloading, indecent images of children and one of distributing them.

He was jailed for two years by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court, put on the sex offenders’ register and barred from working with children.

The judge told him: “I accept that difficulties in your marriage led you to drink and a great deal of unhappiness and that you were searching for solace in various ways.

“That may be why you progressed from adult pornography to looking at images of child abuse and chose to make contact with not one but two children who believed to be as young as 11 and 13.

“You took the conversations into grossly sexual territory and sent abhorrent imagery of children being sexually abused by adults. The combination of offences is too serious for anything other than immediate imprisonment.”

Miss Caroline Bolt, prosecuting, said police were contacted by Justice4Kids in March 2021 after Alves made contact with two decoys posing as young girls on Facebook.

He sent lewd messages and a child sex video to both and suggested having sex with the 13-year-old. The decoys arranged for him to go to Exmouth in the hope of having sex on the beach and he was confronted at the station.

Alves claimed to be 16 at the start of the conversations but eventually revealed his true age. He was not deterred when the decoys claimed to be innocent girls of 11 and 13.

The National Crime Agency had been alerted by Facebook to the obscene movies he sent on the platform and the police were already trying to trace Alves when he was arrested.

He was found with 459 images or movies on his computers including 112 movies showing adults having sex with children, some of which he had sent to either the decoys or online contacts.

Miss Kelly Scrivener, defending, said Alves committed the offences at a time when he was isolated and drinking too much during the breakdown of his marriage.

She said he is deeply ashamed of what he did and has taken steps to change his lifestyle and avoid further online activity. He has been assessed as suitable for a sex offenders’ programme and a good prospect of rehabilitation.