A DISGUSTING sex offender has been jailed after exchanging sexual messages with a girl he believed to be 12.

Louis Smith, 37, was caught out by a group of online paedophile hunters exchanging messages of a sexual nature with a ’12-year-old-girl’ he met online.

Smith appeared at Liverpool Crown Court to be sentenced for one count of ‘intentionally causing a child to look at an image of a person engaging in sexual activity’ and another of ‘attempting to engage in sexual communicate with a child by sending indecent images of himself’.

Prosecuting, Henry Riding told the court how the 37-year-old had begun talking to ‘Grace’ in late 2022 and said the conversation had initially not been sexual. In this initial chat, he was told the girl he was talking to was 12.

The man had been serving a suspended sentence when he first contacted the fake account,

Smith, of Goldcliff Close, Callands, began talking to ‘Grace’ again eight months later in August 2023 – talking to the hunters’ decoy account for just over a week.

Warrington Guardian: Louis Smith being held by the paedophile hunters whilst waiting for policeLouis Smith being held by the paedophile hunters whilst waiting for police (Image: Supplied)

In this week, he sent various sexually explicit messages to her, including pictures of himself, and made further sexual requests of ‘Grace’, asking her to send him photos or videos.  

He was then confronted and apprehended by the paedophile hunting group, and later arrested.

Defending Smith, Emily Calman told the court how the Goldcliff Close resident had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Ms Calman also went on to stress, ‘He has never done anything like this before’ but admitted ‘this was a nasty offence’.

She also added that, whilst he did not deny the offence, he had been drinking and taking ‘substances’ heavily following a death in the family. This has, according to Ms Calman, been resolved.

Judge Trevor Jones, presiding over the case, said that while Smith had pleaded guilty, he was ‘still minimising his culpability’ according to a pre-sentence report.

He went on to state that the report had assigned a medium risk of reoffending to the 37-year-old man.

Judge Jones gave out a sentence of two years for the most serious offence, reduced to 14 months due to the guilty plea and the fact it was ‘only an attempt’. Smith also received 10 months for the second offence, to be served concurrently.

He will serve an immediate custodial sentence and will be placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.