Paedophile hunters lure pervert to station

Stephen Twyford was trapped in a sting when he arranged to meet the girl at Blackpool North Railway Station and was greeted instead by members of the peadophile hunting group Action for Kids North West.

The group confronted Twyford and captured his confession on body camera, the footage of which the group said they would put live on Facebook.

Twyford, a 60-year-old bachelor, of Alderfield, Penwortham, Preston, pleaded guilty to attempting to groom a child.

He had previous convictions for indecently assault – one on a girl under 14 and two others on females over the age of 16.

Twyford was refused bail and remanded in custody for sentence at Preston Crown Court on March 14 by Blackpool magistrates.

Prosecutor Pam Smith said this month Twyford started messaging a person he believed was a 12-year-old girl on a social media site.

He discussed various sex acts he wished to perform on her and arranged to meet her at Blackpool station.

But the girl was an adult who was a member of a paedophile hunters group.

A team from the group met Twyford at the station and he confessed he had sent the girl messages, saying it was disgusting and he was sorry.

The group had said they were going to put body camera footage of Twyford on Facebook and the prosecution said this would put the defendant in jeopardy of harm.

The prosecutor asked for Twyford to be remanded in custody for his own protection and on the grounds he may commit further offences.

Dating site

John Didsbury, defending, asked for bail for his client.

He said Twyford had been lonely and gone on a dating site which had nothing to suggest it was used by underage people.

He put his profile on the site and was contacted by the decoy for the paedophile hunters group.

He accepted the nature of his messages was inappropriate but did not believe he posed a threat to anyone.