JAILED: Wolverhampton Instagram pervert tried to meet 14-year-old girl for sex
A convicted sex offender who tried to meet a 14-year-old girl has been jailed for almost two and a half years – after the victim's mother turned to paedophile hunters to capture him.
Danny Patrick made contact with several girls of that age through requests on Instagram while using the name Mixed Race Dan, a judge heard.
The content of the internet conversation the 31-year-old had with one of them on May 4 quickly became sexual in content, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The teenager was sufficiently shocked to tell her mother who alerted police but officers reportedly could not respond to the call until the following day, explained Mrs Sati Ruck, prosecuting.
So the mother turned to vigilantes from the Internet Interceptors for help and gave them access to her daughter's account so they could continue to converse with the defendant while posing as the 14-year-old.
Patrick made it clear during one of these 'chats' the following day that he was looking for sex and tried to arrange a meeting with the 'girl' in a secluded wooded area, continued Mrs Ruck.
The Interceptors suggested a more public area for the rendezvous at which they intended to confront him but he did not arrive.
The group of self-styled paedophile hunters instead handed the evidence they had collected to the police, who then arrested Patrick.
The mother said in a statement that her daughter had been badly affected by the incident and explained: "She is confused as to why this man wanted to meet her and is now frightened to leave the house. She spends more time alone in her room with the curtains closed for fear of being watched."
A second girl contacted by him out of the blue on April 26 ignored his message and blocked him from contacting her again.
This incident was reported to police on May 10, two days after he had been arrested at his home over the conversations with the other girl.
Patrick, whose partner has five children, was arrested at his home on May 8. He had been the subject of a Sexual Offender Prevention Order, known as a Sopo, which banned any unsupervised contact with anybody under the age of 18. This had been imposed on October 5 2012 after admitting two offences of making indecent images of children.
The defendant, from Brantley Avenue, Finchfield, admitted attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming, attempting to engage in sexual communications and two breaches of his SOPO.
He was jailed for two years five months by Judge James Burbidge QC who told him: "In 2012 a court gave you the chance to address any predilection you had for looking at young children. But actions speak louder than words and now your desire to have sexual relations with a child under 16 has caused significant upset and psychological harm."
