Paedophile hunters catch man who groomed ‘girls’
One fake prOfile Of ‘leicestershire 12-year-Old’
A PAeDOPHile was caught by vigilantes posing as young girls online after attempting to meet up with a child.
Simon Hammerton, pictured, of Hyde, in Greater Manchester, had been speaking online to multiple profiles including one he believed to be a 12-year-old girl from leicestershire.
The 33-year-old was exposed to Greater Manchester Police by the online group after he turned up at a bus station in Ashton-under-lyne, Greater Manchester, carrying a bag containing alcohol and condoms.
He believed he was going to meet an 11-year-old girl in July but was handed over to police by an online safety group.
After detectives seized his laptops and mobile phones, it was established that in the month prior, Hammerton had been speaking with “two girls” he thought were both 12, one in leicestershire and the other in Southampton, encouraging them send him images of them and speaking sexually.
A crown court heard that during their online conversation, he regularly told them he wanted to kiss them and on one occasion encouraged a girl to send him photos of her in her underwear and school uniform. Hammerton was also in contact with profiles he believed to be two other girls, aged 11 and 13.
During conversations with them, he sent images and videos of himself naked, including one he sent to the supposed 11-year-old girl of him performing a sex act.
He tried to persuade the girl to send videos of her doing the same, the court heard.
Hammerton was arrested on the day that he had arranged to meet the youngest girl at Ashton bus station in Tameside, Greater Manchester.
On arrival, he was placed under citizen’s arrests and it was revealed that the girls he had been in touch with were adults.
Hammerton, of Auburn Avenue, Hyde, was jailed for five years and four months. He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.
He had admitted five counts of attempting to engage in sexual comto munication with a child, attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and two counts of attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity.