Facebook paedophile travelled from Worcester home to meet 13-year-old girl at KFC in Leeds

But Dave Southern had no idea he had been set up by a paedophile hunter group who met him in Kirkstall when he arrived at the agreed meeting site.

Predator Exposure livestreamed the meeting online before the 48-year-old was arrested. Now 50, he appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week having admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to arrange a child sex offence.

Prosecutor Robert Galley said Southern made contact with the decoy profile in November 2022, telling her he was from the Worcester area. He asked the supposed 13-year-old to be his girlfriend and called her “sexy babe”.

He also turned the conversations sexual, encouraging her to masturbate. He also talked about meeting her and engaging in sexual behaviour with her.

On November 13, 2023, Southern made a train journey to Leeds, then caught a taxi to the KFC in Kirkstall where he was met by the hunter group. He had initially intended to take the girl to the cinema.

Mitigating, Amber Walker said he had not committed any offences since then, and that he was forced to move home due to word spreading about the livestreamed sting by the hunter group.

He now lives on Markby Road, Birmingham. Miss Walker said Southern had suffered a heart attack and was awaiting an operation for a heart monitor to be fitted.

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She said Southern was also working for the British Heart Foundation.

The judge, Recorder Alex Menary, acknowledged that Southern had “some form of learning disability” and would benefit from professional help.

He gave him a two-year jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, gave him 30 rehabilitation days with probation, put him on the sex offender register for 10 years and gave him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order to curb his internet use.