Overview:

Daniel Smith thought he had been chatting online to a youngster called ‘Zoe’ in November 2015 but had been duped by Dark Justice, an undercover organisation that poses as children on the internet to snare predators.

When the now 21-year-old, of Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, turned up to meet the 13-year-old at Times Square in Newcastle, after sending a series of illicit messages, asking for ‘naughty photographs’ and carrying a bottle of gin for them to share, he was confronted by members of the organisation, who had alerted the police.

Charges:

At Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Gittins sentenced Smith to a community order for three years with sex offender treatment programme requirements.

Smith must sign the sex offenders register for five years and abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order for seven years.

The judge said intervention, as opposed to a prison sentence, was appropriate in Smith’s case in a bid to reduce the risk he currently poses to children.