Perv caught by paedophile vigilantes trying to meet 11-year-old girl for sex while his fiance was on a hen do is caged for five years
Mark McKenna told fictional girl 'you do know that I'm 38 and you have to be my daughter for the day'
A PERVERT duped by paedophile vigilantes into believing he was meeting an 11-year-old girl for sex while his fiancée was away on a hen do has been jailed for five years.
Mark McKenna, 38, arranged to meet with the fictional child after grooming her online - taking condoms with him.
Maidstone Crown Court heard that McKenna had told the child he had the house to himself and sent her a picture of an unopened condom and a video of him performing a sex act.
In August this year McKenna headed to Bluewater shopping centre in Kent to meet the girl.
But, when he reached the centre instead of being greeted by ‘Lisa’ he was met by a team of vigilante paedophile hunters dubbed The Hunted One.
The group filmed McKenna as they approached him in the car park reading out sections of his conversation with the child.
The messages read out in the video included: "You do know that I'm 38 and you have to be my daughter for the day.
"We can't be boyfriend and girlfriend."
Another text sent by McKenna said: "Have you ever kissed or touched a willy?"
McKenna had previously admitted one count of initiating, arranging or facilitating an act with the intention of engaging in a sexual activity with a child.
Today at Maidstone Crown Court McKenna was also placed on the sex offenders' register for life and barred from ever working with children or vulnerable adults.
Prosecutor Dominic Connolly said The Hunted One group member Andy Bradstock created a fictional profile of a girl called Lisa on Instagram in July.
With it was a photo of a young girl taken from the internet.
The profile was liked by McKenna and he started sending messages.
Over the next three-and-a-half weeks he sent images of male and female private parts.
Mr Connolly said the issue of age was plain from the outset as McKenna asked how old she was and was told "11 nearly 12".
He told her he was a good deal older than her at 38.
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Mr Connolly said: "He messaged her to say he could get into trouble with the police and asked her to promise she wouldn't tell anyone."
McKenna had also sent the girl 20 explicit photos and a video of him masturbating.
He told her what he wanted to do to her sexually and said he would be gentle with her and wear a condom.
Judge Philip Statman said that if it had been a real child the maximum sentence would have been life imprisonment.
He said: "It is clear as clear can be this is rape of a child under 13.
"I have to apply guidelines which relate to sexual assault.
"There is a significant degree of planning and grooming and on the face of it targeting of a vulnerable child - a very serious matter indeed."
The judge also spoke of his concern about vigilante groups getting involved in these kinds of cases.
He said: "I am very mindful of the manner in which this particular case came to light, its gestation and how it was brought to the attention of the authorities.
"Offences of this kind need very careful investigation indeed. No member of the public can be fully aware of the scope of any police inquiry.
"Members of the public must be very careful indeed to ensure where matters such as this are canvassed through social media sites that no further offences are committed such that the individual involved in the original posting commits himself or herself a criminal offence.
"One sees clearly the danger that can arise into what subsequently happened in regard to the defendant and his family."
After he was exposed , Mckenna lost his job, his partner left him and he had to move because he was barraged with hate mail.
The judge added: "In my judgement - and I hope I am not speaking out of turn - matters of this kind, horrendous as they are, ought properly to be left to the appropriate investigating police officers who are there to safeguard the interests of the community as a whole."
Ben Bleach, spokesman for The Hunted One, welcomed the sentence and said afterwards: "This particular case wouldn't have gone to court if we hadn't done what we did.
"We don't want to interfere with the police. We speak to the police and we are getting information from the police to help do what we do better.
"Everything we do is properly done and on recommendations to ourselves.
"We believe we are doing the right thing. We are getting people behind bars and have a 100 per cent conviction rate.
"We are going to carry on and keep within the law and keep getting convictions."
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