Paedophile with predatory past used womens Facebook page to target 12-year-old girl.

Stephen Pocklington, a repeat offender with a history of crimes against children, was jailed for 32 months after attempting to groom a 12-year-old girl online.

The 50-year-old, who has five convictions for 17 offenses, 12 of which are against children, made contact with the girl on Messenger earlier this month. However, the profile was a decoy run by a paedophile hunter group.

Despite being told the girl was only 12, Pocklington's conversations quickly turned sexual. He encouraged her to masturbate, asked to perform sex acts on her, and requested her phone number and information about when she would be alone. He also told her to keep their communication a secret.

The case was handed to another hunter group who then went to Pocklington's home in Wakefield. He was arrested and charged with attempting to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), and breaching the terms of the sex offender register.

Pocklington pleaded guilty to all charges. In mitigation, his lawyer stated that he understood the seriousness of his actions and expressed a desire to work with probation to address his offending behaviour, which he attributed to alcohol misuse.

Sentencing Pocklington, Judge Simon Phillips KC stated, "This is part of a clear pattern of offending behaviour. You pose a risk towards female children. This was determined sexualised behaviour towards what you thought was a young child." Pocklington was also placed on the sex offender register indefinitely.