Telford paedophile booked hotel room for '13-year-old girl' in vigilante sting
A Telford paedophile who booked a hotel room for what he believed was a 13-year-old girl was caught by vigilantes after going to meet her at McDonald’s.
Steven Frederick Jackson, 57, sent messages to the ‘girl’ over the course of six weeks in February and March last year.
Over the course of the communication, the decoy, an adult woman, constantly reminded him she was aged 13, but Jackson continued to send messages.
Prosecutor Wendy Miller told Shrewsbury Crown Court: “He made references to her bottom, said she could be a model and that he wanted to kiss her.
“He was messaging her nearly on a daily basis and asked her to send photos.
“He said he wished he was the same age as her and that he wanted a relationship.
“He later said she should block him because he had dangerous ideas.”
But the messages didn’t stop, and Jackson booked a hotel room in Derby, asked her if she was bringing her pyjamas and arranged to meet her at McDonald’s.
Motivations
At this point the decoy handed the information to police. She arrived at the fast food restaurant with two men to confront Jackson. He was then arrested.
Police also seized his laptop which revealed three Category C images of child sexual abuse.
Jackson, of Benthall View, Madeley, admitted making indecent images of children and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.
Kevin Jones, defending, said: “It aggravates everything when there are hotel rooms booked and plans made.
“This is a man who has extremely low self-esteem and has had problems with relationships in the past.
"He was seeking some sort of comfort from this contact.”
Judge Peter Barrie told Jackson: “It is clear that there were sexual motivations behind the arrangement.
"You had been messaging her for six weeks to try and form a bond.”
He sentenced Jackson to a community order for 24 months, 45 rehabilitation days, 80 hours unpaid work and ordered him to go on a sexual offenders prevention programme.
