Pervert snared after travelling 150 miles to meet 'teenage boy' in Sunderland

Kevin Bingham thought he had been chatting to a 14-year-old called Thomas over dating site Grindr in October last year.

But the 52-year-old had been duped by Guardians of the North, an organisation with members who pose as children online to snare adults looking for underage sex.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Bingham, who already had a police caution for kissing an underage boy, started sending illicit images of himself to the fake profile "within hours" and also sent a video of an adult man performing a sex act.

Within days Bingham had booked a seaside hotel in Whitley Bay and travelled over 150 miles from his home in Petters Hollow, Bulwell, Nottingham, to meet the boy at a McDonald's in Sunderland.

When he arrived at the meeting point, Bingham was confronted by the paedophile hunters, who had the police - and their video camera - in tow.

The court heard when his mobile phone was examined, police found 199 indecent images and movies of children.

Bingham, of no fixed address, admitted attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and attempting to meet a child following grooming.

He also pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

Judge Edward Bindloss sentenced him to 16 months behind bars with lifelong sex offender registration and sexual harm prevention order.

The judge told him: "Images were being sent within hours of contact. A hotel had been booked and you were travelling within days.

"Your Position is aggravated by the previous caution."

The court heard Bingham, who was married with children when he "came out to friends and family as gay" in his 40s, lost his marriage and people close to him due to the revelation.

Jamie Adams, defending, said Bingham was at a "low ebb" when he committed the offences but has numerous references to his ordinarily positive character.