Garret Kelly 63

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A London Underground worker was snared by paedophile hunters as he tried to groom a 13-year-old girl for sex and promised to “deflower” her, a court has heard.

Garret Kelly, 62, exchanged hundreds of messages with the girl called Saskia on Facebook and WhatsApp over the course of six weeks before setting a meeting up at Paddington Station.

Kelly had cleaned his house in preparation for her stay, urged the schoolgirl to start taking the contraceptive pill, and promised “to make you a woman, sexually”.

However, Kelly was confronted at the train station by a so-called paedophile hunter who had created Saskia online using a digitally de-aged photo of her own face.

At Southwark crown court on Wednesday, Judge Martin Griffith sentenced Kelly to 21 months in prison and agreed to suspended the term for the next two years.

The court heard Kelly, a London Underground worker for more than 20 years, has lost his job since his arrest in December last year.

Prosecutor Carol Summers said Kelly, a father of two, starting communicating with Saskia on Facebook last October, where she had a profile clearly indicating she was 13-year-old.

He gave out his mobile phone number and messaging switched to WhatsApp, where repeated references were made to the girl’s school, mother, and homework.

“Slowly and methodically he made reference more and more to sexual contact, her clothing, being in the bath”, said Ms Summers, adding that he asked “how good were her sex education lessons”.

“He was putting himself forward as a confidante, a helper, and an instructor.”

The prosecutor said Kelly started making references to “deflowering” the girl, before discussing their upcoming meeting when he suggested she wear stockings and a suspender belt.

When Saskia messaged saying she did not “know how I’m supposed to feel”, Kelly replied: “That’s OK, you are open to the idea, not opposed or repulsed by me”.

Ms Summers added: “He was encouraging her to go to the doctor to obtain contraception.”

Kelly travelled from his home in Tooting to the meeting on December 2, when he was met by the paedophile hunter, caught on camera, and evidence was handed over to police.

On police bodyworn video Kelly is visibly angry and upset, and complained: “They have tried and sentenced me”, and suggested it had been “sold” to him that the girl’s mother was away.

Lee Sergent, for Kelly, urged the judge not to send him to prison to allow for rehabilitation in the community.

“The fallout and impact of being caught has been already punitive – he has lost his long-standing work, and his relationship with his two daughters at the moment is non-existent.

“This is a man who, as a result of facing up to these charges, is on the point of giving up.”

Kelly was ordered to carry out 125 hours of community service and 45 days of rehab as part of his suspended prison sentence. He will be added to the sex offender’s register and under a sexual harm prevention order.

He pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child and attempted grooming.