Pictured: Callum Lee Bates as he was snared by a group of paedophile hunters
A teenager attempted to meet a nine-year-old boy for sex at a deserted railway station after pretending to be a police officer to ‘impress’ the child.
Callum Lee Bates, 18, believed he had persuaded a vulnerable young victim to travel 45 minutes alone on a train in the dead of night to meet him, having lied about being a trainee police constable.
The predator approached ‘Dillon’ – who was actually an undercover decoy posing as a child online – and bombarded him with explicit texts using a fake name, initially thinking he was 14.
Despite the decoy later telling him he was only nine, Bates was not put off and invited him to his home for ‘full sex’ – just five days after sending the first message.
Graphic chat logs show him repeatedly asking the decoy for naked photos and describing the planned abuse in sickening detail.
When the ‘boy’ said he was nervous and scared he might get in trouble, he assured him everything was above board because he was ‘a cop’.
He broke down in tears when he was cornered at Andover railway station shortly after midnight on January 3 by members of SKID Group, a self-styled group of vigilantes who expose potential sex offenders.
He was detained at the scene until police arrived.
Bates, of Andover, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming at Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday.
He was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on April 12.
Footage of the sting released by the group shows Bates in a black leather jacket standing alone on a platform as he is approached by two men.
When asked why he is there, he claims he is ‘meeting a friend’.
Holding him by the wrists, the first man asks: ‘Does a little boy named Dillon ring a bell?’
Bates hesitates at first then replies ‘yeah’, confessing that he believed the person he was speaking to was nine.
Callum Lee Bates, 18, believed he had persuaded a vulnerable young victim to travel 45 minutes alone on a train in the dead of night to meet him, having lied about being a trainee police constable
The hunter says: ‘What does that clock say up there, look? Why do you think a nine-year-old boy will be coming on a train, on his own, at 22 minutes past midnight. Nine years old. What are you thinking?’
The rattled teenager looks at the floor and mumbles: ‘I dunno.’
He starts to weep as he is led away by the two men and sobs: ‘I’m just really scared.’
As the questioning continues, Bates admits making contact with the decoy but offers no explanation for his actions.
The second man, who had been posing as ‘Dillon’, says: ‘I told you I was 14 plenty of times and then I said, look, I’m nine really. I checked with you two or three times that you were ok about it.
Bates wept on camera as he was led away by the two men
‘A nine-year-old child. A child. To me, you’re a child. I don’t get it. I have never had anybody as young as you, to want anybody as young.’
Bates stares into space, saying: ‘I’m shaking like mad.’
The first man tells him: ‘You are a pebble, a small little drop in the pond but the ripple effect goes on and on. Your family, your friends, the people you work with. You didn’t think of them at all did you?’
He simply shakes his head in response.
Hampshire Constabulary said Bates was accepted onto its Volunteer Police Cadet scheme in 2016 but left without completing his induction.
A spokesman for SKID Group said: ‘The case against Bates was a very strange one and a huge moral obstacle to overcome. However, he is an adult and the severity of the chat, as well as the fact he believed the decoy was nine years old, meant we had to build a strong case against him.
‘With Bates pleading guilty, our job is done and we are happy with this outcome. We put our trust in the justice system, as we do with every person we catch, and by working closely with the police we have been able to deliver a commendable number of convictions that help safeguard children online.’