'The worst we have ever come across': Paedophile hunter speaks out over Telford man who tried to meet boy, 12, for sex
A member of the paedophile hunting group which caught an HIV-positive Telford man trying to meet a 12-year-old boy for sex has described him as potentially the most dangerous offender he has encountered.
The man, who works for the Wolverhampton branch of the Internet Interceptors, was speaking after David Cox, 52, of Winifreds Drive, Donnington, was jailed for 27 months at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
Cox had gone to Wednesfield Park, in Wolverhampton, on March 18 believing he was meeting a boy whose profile he had found on the gay dating app Grindr.
Instead he was met by members of the Internet Interceptors group who confronted him with evidence of graphic sexual images and messages he had sent to the fictitious boy, who he believed was from Wolverhampton.
The Internet Interceptors member, who goes by the name of 'Gordon', said: "Out of 49 convictions we have he is possibly the worst sexual predator we have ever come across."
Gordon said he would have liked to have seen a greater sentence for the offence.
He said: "The sentence does not reflect the crime. It should have been a lot higher.
"He should have been remanded in custody from the off."
Cox, who had pleaded guilty to one charge of attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch an image of a person engaging in sexual activity, and another of attempting to meet a child under 16 following sexual grooming, was jailed for a total of 27 months at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.
Gordon said that the profile had only been up on Grindr for 20 minutes before Cox contacted them.
He said he hoped their group could work more closely with the police to help catch more offenders in the future.
"I am saying to them 'We will come and work for you free of charge, we will volunteer our services'," he said.
The man explained that the only resources they have are a mobile phone and a laptop.
He also rejected accusations of vigilantism, and said the group's members were carrying out old fashioned detective work.
"If the police were to work with us I can guarantee that whatever police force we work with we could catch at least 10 paedophiles a day for the next year," he added.
"I know there are that many out there. It's an epidemic."
