Daniel Pickering was jailed after offering to give "Amber" cocaine and alcohol if she met him in person. A paedophile who thought he was luring a year-old schoolgirl to his home for sex was confronted by Facebook vigilantes and arrested by police. Father-of-one Daniel Pickering was a respected Sports Direct manager at the high street store during the day. But outside of work he spent a month sending vile messages to a Facebook profile that he thought belonged to a girl called Amber.
He told her his real name from the outset, engaged in explicit chat and sent footage of himself performing a sex act, convinced she was a Liverpool schoolgirl. In a bid to lure her into sex, he offered to give her cocaine and alcohol if she met him in person.
Claire Brocklebank, prosecuting, told the hearing Pickering asked whether "Amber" was single and suggested she "find someone experienced to be with". But at the meeting point - a Lidl car park - Pickering was met and surrounded by six members of the vigilante group. Manchester Crown Court heard how the group performed a citizens arrest and detained Pickering before police arrived.
He admitted counts of attempting to meet a child after grooming, attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and attempting to engage a child in sexual contact. He also admitted possessing cocaine and cannabis after snap bags of the drugs were found at his home, and offering to supply cocaine.
She said Pickering, a father-of-one with no previous convictions, lived with his partner and was a hard working man. However in recent years, a growing number of prosecutions have relied on evidence from vigilante investigators. Celebs TV Films. US Celebrity News. Love Island.
