Pensioner caught by paedophile hunters
A PENSIONER with a string of sexual offences dating back 50 years has been spared jail after trying to meet up with a 14-year-old girl.
Convicted rapist Cyril Hardy, 80, of Rochdale, was caught by a paedophile hunter group.
Hardy pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a girl under 16 years old for grooming.
The court heard how Stacey McDonald, 29, a member of paedophile hunter group ‘Parents Standing Together For Our Kids’, set up a decoy as 14-year-old girl called Atara Louise on Meet Me App and WhatsApp.
Prosecuting, Alexandra Sutton, said that between October 21, 2017 and November 20, 2017 Hardy told Atara he wanted her to live with him, marry him and have his children.
Ms Sutton said: “She said her mother was going away for a week.
“He asked her to meet him in the city centre for shopping and said he would take her to buy some new outfits.
“He asked if she wanted a silver or yellow gold wedding ring.”
The court heard how on November 18, 2017 Hardy arranged to meet Atara at Victoria Station and sent her a photograph of his car registration number.
Once there he was confronted by members of Parents Standing Together For Our Kids, filmed and arrested by police.
When confronted by the group, Ms Sutton said Hardy, who has 16 convictions for 20 offences, said he thought Atara was actually older than she was.
He said that the talk about marriage and children was ‘just a laugh.’
Defending, Daniel Gaskrell, described Hardy, who originally pleaded not guilty but later changed his plea, as ‘a lonely old man who was seeking comfort of strangers, and has been in and out of marriages’.
Hardy was sentenced to 18 months suspended for two years, 30 Rehabilitation Activity Requirements and ten years on the sex offender register as well as a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.