'So she is not coming then?' - What Telford pensioner told paedophile hunters who caught him in sting
A 77-year-old Telford man confronted in a sting by a paedophile hunting group after he attempted to lure a 14-year-old girl to his home for sex asked them: "So she is not coming then?"
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Thursday that Bryan James Morris, of Springhill Crescent, Madeley, had thought the teenager he was speaking to was a real girl from Devon.
In reality, the court was told, the girl didn't exist and was a "decoy" created in an elaborate sting to catch paedophiles in the act.
Robert Edwards prosecuting, said Morris had admitted one count of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, and one count of attempted sexual communication with a child at an earlier hearing following his arrest in August 2021.
He said: "The defendant was communicating with a decoy who he believed to be a 14-year-old called Brooke Adams. But she was fake.
"He began messaging her on Facebook on August 4, 2021, and quickly the conversation was turned by him to be sexual."