A “devious and dangerous” sex offender who asked paedophile hunters posing as a 14-year-old girl to meet for sex has been jailed.
Lee Burke, 41, of Fender Road, Bradford, said he wanted the ‘teenager’ to be his “secret girlfriend”.
He was jailed for six years at Bradford Crown Court on Thursday after being convicted of three child sex offences.
Burke was caught by the sting while on licence after a prison sentence for sexually abusing a young girl.
Prosecutor Abdul Shakoor told the court Burke had initiated online contact with a decoy profile posing as a child in December 2021.
Despite being told the person he was speaking to was only 14, Burke described her photo as “sexy” and “hot,” the court heard.
He asked to meet up but said he did not want anyone to know they were messaging because he could go to prison for a long time.
Burke planned to meet the girl at an ice rink in Bradford two days before Christmas, but did not show up.
Members of the Keeping Innocent Dreams Safe paedophile hunter group turned up at this home to confront him and posted footage online after finding his address.
Burke called the police to complain about the group but the officers who arrived arrested him.
During a trial in October, Burke insisted he was “changed man” who had done nothing wrong.
He claimed he had known all along he was speaking to a decoy profile and was trying to flush out the people trying to entrap him.
‘Hoodwink jury’
But a jury found him guilty of two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child, and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.
Syam Soni, in mitigation, said Burke had been under pressure at work and “wasn’t thinking straight” at the time of the offences.
He added Burke had been cut off from his family after being jailed for six years for a series of sexual offences against a 14-year-old girl in June 2014.
Recorder Andrew Haslam KC said Burke was only prevented from sexually abusing another girl because on this occasion she “did not exist”.
Burke then tried to “hoodwink” the jury into believing he had changed, the judge said.
Mr Haslam told him: “I have no hesitation at all in concluding that you are a devious and dangerous man.”
Burke will have to serve two thirds of his sentence before he is eligible to apply for parole and will be subject to three years on licence after his release.
He must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
