Sex offender caught by decoy posing as 14-year-old

James Wilson was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court

A man who sent graphic sexual messages and videos to what he thought was a 14-year-old has been sentenced.

James Wilson, 46, told the "girl" he would kill any "paedo" who tried to have sex with her, but then deluged her with messages saying he wanted to do just that, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The profile was run by a group of paedophile hunters and Wilson was seriously injured in an attack after they posted about his case online, the court heard.

Wilson was jailed for 14 months, suspended for 21 months, after admitting attempted sexual communications with a child and attempting to make a child watch a sexual act.

Wilson started messaging the decoy on WhatsApp in December 2023, prosecutor Joe Hedworth said, bombarding her with compliments.

He repeatedly told her she was "gorgeous" and "stunning" and, after being told she was 14, wished she was twice her age or he was a 14-year-old boy again, the court heard.

Confronted at home

Among the multitude of messages were ones acknowledging he might be seen as a "perv" or "paedo" for messaging her and vowing to kill or mutilate any man who tried to have sex with her.

He also said he should be shot for loving a 14-year-old girl but she was the "most beautiful girl in the world", the court heard.

Wilson referred to himself as her "uncle James" and told her to delete the chat so her mother would not see it as he was "paranoid people would think he was a pervert", Mr Hedworth said.

Wilson went on to detail explicit sexual acts he wanted to perform on the girl, the court heard.

He sent her pictures and videos of himself having sex, the court heard.

Wilson also said he wanted to meet up with her in public and pretend she was his daughter while he secretly molested her, the court heard, inviting her to meet him in Chester-le-Street.

Wilson was eventually confronted at his home on 31 May last year by the paedophile hunters and was "drunk and aggressive" and threatened to kill himself, Mr Hedworth said.

'Vicious' attack

In mitigation, Christopher Knox said Wilson had been "run" out of his home after the group posted details about him on social media.

He said Wilson was then "viciously" beaten in a "very unpleasant and entirely unjustified" attack following an earlier court hearing which had left him "seriously injured" and needing a metal plate to be inserted around his eye.

Judge Gavin Doig ordered Wilson's new address not be revealed because of the earlier attacks, adding: "He is now in a different location and I want to ensure there is no repetition of that violence."

The judge said there was a "realistic prospect of rehabilitation" so the jail term could be suspended, although he added it would not have been if the child had been real.

Wilson must also sign the sex offenders register and abide by a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.