Paedophile hunter snared family member from Sunderland through fake 14-year-old girl's profile

Undercover group Guardians of the North had set up a fake profile of a 14-year-old girl on social media as part of their everyday operations.

But they were stunned when Cameron Stokoe contacted 'Louise', sent across an explicit photo and asked for a picture of her breasts.

Joe Jones, of GotN, said: "We knew where he lived because of the relationship so we were able to give the police his address and he was arrested.

"This sends the message that no-one is exempt from what we do.

"The whole family has been shocked. We had no idea whatsoever he was up to this. It came as a total surprise to us."

Newcastle Crown Court heard that the pervert had also sent sexual messages to a real 12-year-old girl before being snared by GotN.

Stokoe, who is the cousin of Joe's wife, also a member of GotN, chatted to the first girl online in April 2019, and despite later being arrested and released on bail, he went on to talk to the decoy profile set up by the paedophile hunters.

Annie Richardson, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court Stokoe told the girl he was 19 and she said she was underage.

The conversation progressed to Stokoe asking whether he could be provided with sexual images from her, but said he wouldn't show anyone.

After being reported to the police, the now-20-year-old was arrested despite no statement or support provided to the prosecution by the victim, and was released on bail.

However, six months later in November last year, the defendant was caught by GotN via the online sites Kik and Scout, where he began communicating with a fake underage profile named 'Louise.'

"He told her he was 19 and she told him she was 14," Ms Richardson said.

"He said he was looking for fun - which he said he meant sex.”

The conversation moved to Kik and he asked to see a photo of her breasts and he took an intimate photo of himself.

He also arranged to meet the girl, but later cancelled the plans stating he just wanted to be friends.

Ms Richardson then told the court that Stokoe was a relative of Mr Jones at GotN, and because of this the group knew what his address was and they were able to notify the police.

Despite there being no answer when officers arrived, he was found and arrested a short time later.

CCTV footage from near his home showed Stokoe deleting content and data from his phone once police had been informed and were looking for him.

Stokoe, formally of Telford Road in Sunderland, pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual communication with a child, attempting to meet a girl under 16, and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Tony Cornberg, mitigating, told the court that a psychiatric report carried out revealed Stokoe suffered from "severe anxiety" and "severe depression".

It was also discovered that "significant learning difficulties" were recorded during the tests, which 94% of people would supposedly score higher on.

He added: "The age gap is noticeable but it's not as significant as a 40 or 50-year-old man or older, who sometimes appear for this type of offending.

"The fact that the meeting was cancelled by him suggested he didn't know what he was doing."

Mr Cornberg asked the court to consider allow Stokoe the chance to rehabilitate by carrying out the relevant work with probation.

Judge Stephen Earl sentenced him to a three-year-community order on top of 50 days rehabilitation requirements and completion of the Horizon programme.

The judge told Stokoe the best way in order for him to rehabilitate would be to work with probation, and that it would be "virtually impossible" to do that with a custodial sentence.

He said: "He is only 20 - there ought to be an opportunity for probation to work and for the defendant to show he is capable."

Stokoe was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years.

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