A group of online ‘paedophile hunters’ confronted a man who thought he had been talking to a 12-year-old girl


A group of online ‘paedophile hunters’ confronted a man who thought he had been talking to a 12-year-old girl in a dramatic doorstep video.

Barry Habberely from Swansea spent months communicating with someone he thought was a young girl, including asking her for sex and sending her indecent photographs.

But the 53-year-old was actually talking to a man from the Welsh division of the group One Reason, who was pretending to be a Barnsely schoolgirl.

During their online conversations Habberley paid “her” compliments and said he wanted her to be his girlfriend.

He made requests for sex, told her he loved her, asked whether her periods had started, and said he would drive to Yorkshire to meet her.

After around three months, members of the group went to Habberley’s house to confront him – after presenting him with details of the online exchanges and challenging him about his behaviour, they called police.

Habberley, of Llangyfelach Road, Brynhyfryd, Swansea, was subsequently jailed for 20 months at Swansea Crown Court after pleading guilty to attempting to incite a 12-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity.

He will also be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years – the length of the registration period depends on the length of the sentence.

Judge Geraint Walters told the defendant that despite what he had claimed in his probation report he must have been deriving some sexual pleasure from the online conversations and there had been an element of grooming to his behaviour.