Derby paedophile Jason Yeomans has been sentenced to five years in prison for attempting to meet an underage girl he groomed online.

The 34-year-old was snared by self-styled paedophile hunters who posed as young girls online. Yeomans began messaging what he thought were under 16s just weeks after being released halfway through a 10-year jail sentence for previous child sex offences.

He asked the girls about their underwear and if they had any sexual experiences, but he was actually communicating with adults posing as children. One of the decoy girls reported him to Derbyshire police, leading to his arrest.

Sentencing him at Derby Crown Court, Judge Shaun Smith QC said: "I have to assess if you pose a risk to the public and I have absolutely no doubt that you do. Your (probation service) offender manager report concludes that you pose a risk in relation to children under the age of 16 and there is no doubt you have a sexual interest in children."

"Hopefully that will be addresses while you are in custody. You suffered significant trauma in 2007 as a result of your partner being killed and that sent you into a downward spiral including you resorting to looking at pornography. You sought solace in young people and that was completely and utterly inappropriate."

The court heard that Yeomans was released from prison in September 2020 after serving a sentence for child sex offences. He was sent to live at a bail hostel in Bass Street, off Ashbourne Road, and within weeks was contacting young children online.

He arranged to meet one of the decoy girls in Burton, but she made her excuses saying she'd had a row with her mum. Yeomans replied "okay we will rearrange it" and asked about coming to Tamworth to meet her.

Yeomans pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming. He has previous convictions involving indecent images of children dating back to 2010.

His barrister, Digby Johnson, said his client's partner died in a road crash in 2007 and that he has never had grief counselling for that. He said that Yeomans used pornography to satisfy his late teen urges and "started to disappear into the world of the internet."

Yeomans' five-year sentence is made up of two years in prison plus a three-year extended licence. It means he will be eligible to apply for parole two-thirds of the way through the custodial element of the sentence. However, he has been recalled on licence from a previous child sex offence and will not be released until 2026 at the earliest.

The defendant was also handed a new, lifetime, sexual harm prevention order and will remain on the sex offender register for life.