(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
An “isolated and lonely” 81-year-old man who groomed "12-year-old girls" online before travelling to meet them was caught when he was confronted by a predator hunter group.
The children that Philip Black had been messaging in sexually explicit terms were in fact adults running decoy profiles.
Black, from Victoria Street in Brighouse, is now beginning three years and eight months in prison.
He will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
What messages were sent?
Leeds Crown Court heard how, in November last year, Black added a Facebook profile that he believed was that of a young girl and immediately sent a message asking her age and where she was from.
The girl said she was 12 and from Leeds.
Black told her he was “a big boy, and a nice man”.
The conversation moved to WhatsApp where Black sent grooming messages in which he asked if she wanted him to send her money “for you to buy what you like”.
He moved on to make the conversation sexual, asked if it was okay for him “to feel her body”, and asked if her mum looked at her phone and whether she deleted the messages he sent to her.
They made arrangements to meet, and Black sent messages including “Show me your sexy body in the nude” and “When you see me, are you going to kiss me?”
He went on to describe what he wished to do to her, which involved sexual assault.
He talked about messaging other 13-year-old girls, mentioned remote locations, and arranged to meet her in Leeds.
On December 20, he went to Kirkstall in Leeds where he was met and challenged by the paedophile hunter group.
Man had sexual interest in children 'for a long time'
The court heard that he admitted to wanting to take naked images of the girl, and that he had had a sexual interest in children “for a long time”.
In an interview with police, Black answered no comment to all questions and was released on bail.
Whilst he was on bail, he messaged the same decoy profile.
On May 25 this year he asked if she had any friends and to pass on his number.
He talked about taking her and a friend shopping in Leeds city centre, asked if she still had pictures that he had sent previously of his home and his car, made sexual comments towards her, and told her what to wear when he met her.
Man speaks to another decoy
When given another girl’s profile – also a decoy – Black immediately sent grooming messages and talked sexually with her, suggesting that he buy knickers for them both.
He said: “We can go somewhere nobody is about and have kisses and cuddles.
“You should ask me what I like doing, and do I like younger girls.”
He then arranged to meet the girls and travelled to Leeds where he was again apprehended by the paedophile hunter group.
'An incredibly lonely life'
The court heard that Black had no previous convictions.
Black pleaded guilty to arranging/facilitating an act involving the sexual assault by penetration of a child under 13, attempted sexual communication with a child under 16, and arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sex offence – sexual assault of child.
In mitigation, Black was described as a “very vulnerable” man in his 80s who had led “an incredibly lonely life”.
The court heard that he had never found a partner, never formed any sexual relationships, and that Facebook was an opportunity for him to meet people but that “unfortunately he has met people who were a lot younger than him.”
Meeting with paedophile hunter group 'not pleasant'
The court heard that initially the meetings Black organised “were not malign” but to obtain friendship and that Black exhibited naivety in making contact with the same decoy after being charged and bailed.
The video made of the moment that Black was caught and challenged by the paedophile hunter group was described as “not pleasant”.
The court heard that any prison sentence for Black, who appeared via video link from HMP Leeds, was likely to have “very devastating and severe consequences”.
Man jailed
Sentencing Black, His Honour Judge Neil Clark said: “You are somebody who is isolated and lonely.
“You accepted in the [probation] report that you believed the person you were speaking to was a child, and you just can’t explain why you began the sexualised part of the conversation.”
He said the author of the report assessed Black’s risk of contact offending as low but the risk of re-offending as high.
He told Black that the government would determine his release date.
Black will have to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.
A Sexual Harm Prevention Order will also be in place for life.