Predator arrested at nursery after sending sick messages to young 'girls'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A depraved paedophile sent shocking messages to what he believed to be 11, 12 and 13-year old girls. However, they were actually adult decoys from a local vigilante group, who hunt down perverts, and the North West Organised Crime Squad, reports Manchester Evening News.Across various social media platforms, James Barber, 56, groomed and chatted to the ‘girls’ for a number of days and told them he was looking for "young, sexy girls." He told the decoys that he "liked innocence" and added that "young girls just make me excited" before he was eventually arrested at a nursery in Altrincham where he worked as a cook.The sick beast, of no fixed abode, also sent indecent images of himself to the ‘children’.

At Manchester Crown Court yesterday,he admitted making indecent images of children after a number of vile pictures were found on his phone.Barber also admitted to attempting to engage in sexualised conversations with children and attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity, and was handed a suspended sentence by the judge.

Prosecutor Tom Challinor said that in May 2021, the North West Regional Organised Crime Squad deployed one of its trained officers to pose as a 12-year-old girl and chat to Barber.Between May 18 and July 1, the pervert spoke to the girl on ‘Fast Chat’, with her initially telling him she was 12.

Mr Challinor said: “He proceeded to attempt to groom her and engaged in sexual conversations, telling her he liked ‘young, sexy girls’.