Quick-thinking schoolgirl snapped child snatching paedo who threatened to spank her in the street
Roger Seath was jailed for 33 months after being snared by the teen
A QUICK-thinking schoolgirl snapped a photo of the man who tried to snatch her from the street - and landed him 33 months in prison.
The smart 14-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was cornered against a wall by pervert Roger Seath.
But rather than freezing with fear, the teen quickly took a photo - stopping the 45-year-old in his tracks.
At that moment a group driving past saw what was going on before police were called.
When cops arrived Seath, who had threatened to spank the girl if she did not go with him, said: "guilty as charged".
Judge Anne Arnold praised the teenager's actions at Portsmouth Crown Court, Hants, where Seath was sentenced.
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She said: "This was a particularly vulnerable victim in my view, a 14-year-old schoolgirl.
"She was certainly threatened by you with being spanked if she didn't go with you.
"Because she, very fortunately, had been pre-warned by her parent and was an intelligent and alert girl with sufficient wherewithal to do exactly what she'd been told to do if approached by somebody such as yourself and that was why she took your photograph, freezing your approach long enough to be assisted."
The girl had been told by her mother to take a photo of anyone who approached her or hit out if she was touched following a previous report of another schoolgirl being approached.
A motorist who was driving past when Seath tried to grab the girl, in Southsea, Hants, confronted him as the terrified and tearful teen was led to safety.
The smaller one is cuter though, the 14-year-old wasn't interested, I offered her 20 quid and everything.
Seath
Robert Bryan, prosecuting, said he had followed the girl, matching her pace as she walked across the road to get away from him.
The court heard Seath had spent the seven days after arriving in Portsmouth, Hants, following schoolgirls and videoing them on his iPhone.
Footage played at Portsmouth Crown Court showed Seath walking just 2ft away from two other teenage girls, saying: "The smaller one is cuter though, the 14-year-old wasn't interested, I offered her 20 quid and everything.
"I'm going to have to go now, that's all your getting."
Mr Bryan said it was unclear if Seath had been talking on the phone to another person while recording.
Two other videos showed him discreetly filming two girls on city streets.
Investigators found he had more than 300 images of girls from a social media network.
Chat logs showed he had messaged, called and tried to video call 10 young teenagers, including bombarding one girl he found online.
Seath made 4,246 searches on his phone in seven days – 600 a day – with the majority related to teenage girls.
David Reid, defending, said Seath had little memory of the incident or the time leading up to it, and had a butter knife on him as he was homeless but living in a hotel.
The fact you have no previous convictions probably makes it all the more worrying that unpredictably you've committed this offence at this particular time in your life.
Judge Arnold
He added: "Roger Seath does recognise this young girl would have been very scared about what he did and the public in general would be concerned about his behaviour."
Judge Arnold said: "[The fact you have no previous convictions] probably makes it all the more worrying that unpredictably you've committed this offence at this particular time in your life."
She added: "You do appear to be a danger to children."
Seath, previously of Southsea, Hants, admitted attempted abduction with intent to commit a sexual offence and having a bladed article - the butter knife - in a public place.
He was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment and must sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years, as well as a lifetime order which restricts his access to children.
He must also pay a £170 victim surcharge.
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