- Chef sent Grindr messages to account he though belonged to teenage boy
- When he arrived at a meeting point, he was confronted by online vigilantes
- He has now admitted grooming but avoided jail on a community sentence
This is the moment a chef who thought he was meeting a 15-year-old boy was confronted by so-called ‘paedophile hunters’.
Madan Lal, of Ponteland, Northumbria, sent messages to an online account he thought belonged to the boy on gay dating app Grindr.
But he was actually exchanging messages with the vigilante group Guardians of the North, who expose adults looking for sex with children.
The 45-year-old has now pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming but avoided a jail term on a community order.
Madan Lal pleaded to be let go after he was caught by paedophile hunters trying to meet a boy
Footage of the moment Lal was confronted shows him claiming he only wanted to meet for ‘drinks and coffee’ and admitting: ‘I have been very stupid.’
Newcastle Crown Court heard Lal had arranged to meet the boy – who he thought was 15 – at the Centre for Life in the city. But he was confronted by the group and handed over the police.
Prosecutor Mark Giuliani said: ‘The defendant initially said he had wanted to meet for a coffee and chat. By his plea he has accepted something more serious than coffee.’
The judge, Recorder Ben Nolan QC, sentenced him to a three year community order with sex offender programme and rehabilitation requirements.
He must sign the sex offenders register and abide by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.
Lal got a community order for attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming
The judge said it was in the public interest for the restaurant chef to receive intervention.
He told Lal: ‘When you attended your rendezvous you were collared by the group, which Mr Giuliani describes as a vigilante group. I make no observation about that.
‘The full offence was never and could never have been committed.’
The court heard the fake Grindr profile which had been in initial contact with Lal had been shut down by the regulators due to the age 18 restriction on the adult site.
Another was then set up and the conversation started up a second time. The judge said it was ‘very close to entrapment’.