Leeds pervert sent photos of himself to 'children' while laid on Manchester United bed sheet and wearing women's knickers

Sick Andrew Stevens was caught out twice, first by online paedophile hunter group, and then while on bail, was trapped by undercover police officers.

Leeds Crown Court was told that Stevens first made contact with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl in June of 2018 via an online app.

He told her was in his 30s and quickly turned the conversation sexual.

The conversation continued over the months and he sent her pics of his genitals, prosecutor Michael Greenhalgh said.

At Christmas he sent her a message asking if she had been naughty, and asked her is she wanted to be.

However, the profile had been set up by the group Dark Justice, who passed his details onto police.

They went to his address in Rotherham, but he had moved to Leeds.

He was arrested in November 2019 but gave a no comment interview.

But while on bail in March 2021, he targeted what he thought was a 12-year-old girl on the messenger app KIK, which turned out to be a police officer using a decoy profile.

Again he quickly steered the conversation sexual.

Stevens then sent pictures of himself in different women’s underwear, and pics of him laying on a bed with a Manchester United duvet cover.

Tracking him down via his IP address, they seized a Samsung phone and women’s underwear in his possession.

They also found indecent images of children with evidence that he had distributed them, and possession of an extreme pornographic photo involving a dog.

The 37-year-old, of Linden Grove, Beeston, underwent two police interviews and gave no comments on both occasions.

He eventually admitted charges including inciting a girl under 13 into sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child, two counts of possessing indecent photographs, two counts of distributing indecent images and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

Mitigating, Joseph Hudson said Stevens had special educational needs and was socially isolated, but added: “None of that amounts to an excuse or justification, but it’s an explanation.

"We often see people come to court and just deny, deny, deny, but there are signs he is taking the next step in accepting that this is something he needs to address.”

Judge Robin Mairs was due to sentence him on Monday, but told Stevens he needed time to think and remanded him into custody.

Sentencing Stevens this afternoon, he told him: “In neither case there was an actual child, nor was there an attempt to meet.”

He gave him 24 months’ jail, suspended for 24 months, ordered him to take part in a sex offenders course, put him on the sex offenders registers for 10 years and gave him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to limit his internet use.

Judge Mairs added: “You have now seen what the inside of Armley looks like (HMP Leeds).

"If you breach the order, or commit another offence you will comeback before me and I will send you back to Armley.”