A former soldier from Warrington who arranged to meet a 13-year-old girl after grooming her in on-line chats, has been jailed after being exposed by a paedophile hunting group.
The 13-year-old child was actually a fake profile set up by a paedophile hunting group, called The Elusive Child Protection Unit, said Carmel Wilde, prosecuting.
And when George Brusby opened his front door expecting to meet the younger he was greeted by members of the group who live streamed a 47 minute interrogation with him.
After the police were then called to his Warrington home he was arrested and has now been jailed for 27 months.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the paedophile hunting group set up the fake profile of the child and on January 7 last year she received a message from the defendant saying, “Hi there beautiful, can I just say you look absolutely stunning.”
After she responded he sent her a photograph of the back of a male and she later told him she was 13. “He said he was 25, ex-military and living in Warrington,” said Miss Wilde.
“They exchanged telephone numbers so their communication could continue on WhatsApp. On February 15 he messaged asking her to send him naked pictures. She said she did not really know him.
“He replied, ‘I’m not a bad person, I promise you.’ He asked her to send pictures taking one item off at a time.”
He sent her a picture of his penis and also made an indecent request,” said Miss Wilde.
Brusby had set his phone so messages auto-disappeared but the decoy screenshot some of them. On February 23 they discussed meeting up at his home and arranged to meet three days later.
He told her if she liked “she could hold her first d..k” and sent her his address and asked her to message when she was on her way from the station.
But she informed other members of her group and they arrived and confronted and interrogated him, said Miss Wilde.
Brusby, aged 26 of Cavendish Close, pleaded guilty to attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity and arranging the commission of a child sexual offence,
Mark Pritchard, defending, said that it was not a real girl and Brusby had had time to reflect and was full of remorse.
He has no previous convictions and had spent time in the armed forces but had become isolated. He had had alcohol issues but has now been abstinent for some time and this case had been “a wake-up call.”
He had received threats after the group streamed his interrogation on social media.
“The defendant is the author of his own misfortune, but the criminal justice system does not rely on vigilantism, and no one should be subjected to shame and bear baiting by these people and bullying for 47 minutes,” said Mr Pritchard.
Judge Katherine Pierpoint said it was “a shame” to find him before the courts facing such serious matters but jailed him for 27 months.
“You told the author of the pre-sentence report you were not sexually attracted to children. Having looked at the conversations you clearly have a sexual interest in children.”
She said the fact that no real harm was done was by chance and not design. “The only reason you did not meet up was because this was a decoy.”
She ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same length of time.
