Paedophile who travelled to Corby to try and meet '12-year-old girl' spared from prison

A paedophile told what he thought was a 12-year-old girl that he would s*** her like a princess and travelled to Corby to try and meet her.

Callum Brown said he would book a hotel room before he left his home in Basingstoke and hopped on a train having spoken about sex online.

But when he arrived at Corby’s railway station he was confronted by paedophile hunters, who had been speaking to him all along after they set up a decoy profile.

On Friday (November 3) the 24-year-old, who spent time locked up on remand, was handed a suspended prison sentence.

Northampton Crown Court heard online child protection team Phoenix Guardians of the Innocent had set up a profile on Facebook, purporting to be a 12-year-old girl, when they were contacted by Brown on August 13 this year.

Prosecutor Phillip Plant said Brown, formerly of Ferndown Close, introduced himself and said he thought the ‘girl’ was cute, adding: “I hope you don't think I am weird."

He lied that he was 18 and his Facebook profile claimed that he worked as cabin crew for British Airways, the court heard.

Brown discussed meeting and asked the ‘girl’ if she had dated ‘older blokes’, telling her they could keep it as a secret if they were dating. He also said he was a needy boyfriend and told the ‘girl’ he loved her.

Mr Plant said Brown instigated chat about sex and offered to book a hotel room before moving the conversation to WhatsApp.

Mr Plant said: "Sex came up on more than one occasion."

The court heard Brown tried to assure the decoy that he wasn’t forcing her to have sex with him and booked a hotel before he seemed to get cold feet.

He told the ‘girl’ he was worried about meeting and worried she was a decoy, before continuing to talk about sex when he was reassured that she was genuine and would turn up.

Brown, who had no previous convictions, then said: "I will s*** you like a princess. I will ba** you like a princess."

The court heard he had discussed a 'cover story' where the girl would tell her mum that she was staying at a friend's house.

On August 22, just nine days after the conversation began, Brown travelled more than 100 miles to Corby to try and meet the ‘girl’ but was confronted at the town’s railway station by paedophile hunters. They detained him in an incident which was live streamed on Facebook and has been watched more than 85,000 times.

Brown was arrested and went on to plead guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming. He appeared at court over videolink from HMP Peterborough, where he had been held since his first court appearance in August.

The court heard sentencing guidelines put a starting point for Brown’s offending at two years in prison with a sentencing range of between one year and four years behind bars.

Mitigating, Samantha Ball told the court that Brown is autistic and would have a placement at supported accommodation for adults with autism if he was released from prison.

Urging the case for a suspended sentence, she said Brown doesn't think about things he is doing until after it's happened and that he needs a support worker to visit three times a day to help with his day-to-day living.

She said: "This is the first time he has found himself in court or in prison.

"He is someone who has admitted to what he has done at the earliest opportunity."

Sentencing, Recorder David Allan said that, after aggravating and mitigating factors, the sentence after a trial would have been 18 months in custody.

He reduced it to 12 months because of Brown’s guilty plea – but said he was satisfied there was a prospect of rehabilitation and that he could suspend the sentence for 12 months.

Brown was told he must take part in 60 rehabilitation activity days and will have to stick to a four-month electronic curfew, where he is not allowed out between the hours of 9pm and 6am daily.

He will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years and will be on the sex offender register for 10 years.

Recorder Allan told him: "I hope you do not come before the courts again."