A security guard has been jailed for turning up to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex after sending explicit messages and telling a decoy he wanted to take her virginity.
Derrick Blackwell, from Grimsby, was exposed by vigilante paedophile hunters after using WhatsApp to send explicit messages to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl after first making contact on dating app Meet4U.
Sex offender Blackwell had previously been convicted of having sex with a 19-year-old woman who had a mental age of seven and could not consent in a wheat field in 1993.
Blackwell tried to meet up with a 13-year-old girl for sex after telling her he wanted to take her virginity
The 52-year-old declared he wanted to take the 13-year-old’s virginity and sent a picture of his penis before cycling to the town centre to meet her, where he was confronted and held until police arrived.
When he realised what was happening, Blackwell smashed his phone to pieces, told them ‘I didn’t know she was 13’ and claimed to be there to pick up DVDs.
On Monday, Blackwell of Harlech Way, sat in the dock with his hands over his head as Grimsby Crown Court heard of the dramatic moment he was approached by members of the Facebook group Silent Justice who had posed as the fictional youngster he sent explicit messages to.
The entire altercation was streamed live on Facebook and attracted a large crowd in the street.
Sentencing him to three years in jail, Judge Mark Bury described Blackwell as a ‘dangerous offender’ who posed a ‘significant risk of serious harm to members of the public’.
Prosecutor Megan Rhys told the court that members of the now defunct Silent Justice Facebook page created a fake account of a 13-year-old girl from Birmingham named Jodie on Meet4U.
Ms Rhys explained that members of Silent Justice followed guidelines which meant that ‘Jodie’ did not instigate conversation with other users of the app and they would make clear how old the decoy was purporting to be.
In this case, ‘Jodie’ told Blackwell that she was only 13 years old on three occasions.
Blackwell was restrained by the vigilantes as they waited for police to arrive after he cycled to the town centre to meet a teenage girl
Ms Rhys told the court that on October 1, Blackwell made contact with ‘Jodie’ with the opening message: ‘Hi sweetheart, I’m Derrick.’
‘He told her she was very beautiful and said he didn’t mind that she was 13,’ Ms Rhys said.
The conversation then moved onto the mobile messaging service WhatsApp with many of the messages sent during the early hours.
‘Jodie’ often referred to her school and sent Blackwell a generic picture of what was purported to be her face.
Ms Rhys added: ‘She told him she had never had a boyfriend and he said he didn’t know why because she was so beautiful.
Despite claiming he’d done nothing wrong and was just there to pick up some DVDs, Blackwell smashed his phone and then dismantled it
‘He said he wanted to see what she was wearing under her skirt.’
The court heard Blackwell’s messages became increasingly explicit, saying that he wanted to ‘slide his hand inside her knickers’, adding he wanted to take her virginity.
He later asked for pictures before sending an image of his private parts.
‘He said that it was all a secret because he would get into trouble if she told anyone,’ Ms Rhys said.
‘He talked about meeting at Grimsby railway station. He said that by the time she left him she would know a lot about sex and suggested she do a Google search sex positions ahead of the meeting.’
After his face was shown in the Facebook livestream, Blackwell attempted to obscure his identity by pulling his hood up
But as Blackwell, who was in a 17-year marriage at the time, waited in Grimsby town centre to meet ‘Jodie’ he was approached by members of Silent Justice.
‘He confirmed who he was but said he was there to get some DVDs,’ Ms Rhys said.
‘He smashed his phone on the wall and broke part of it off with his hand and tried to run away.
‘He was told he had led the conversation with “Jodie” and the person he was in contact with had no experience of sexual matters.’
The vigilantes performed a citizen’s arrest before Humberside Police arrived at the scene.
In mitigation, defence barrister Anthony Farrell said Blackwell had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and was left feeling suicidal.
Blackwell was jailed for three years after he was also convicted in a previous case of having sex with somebody with the mental age of a seven year old
‘He feels great shame for what he has done and he said he would never do it again,’ Mr Farrell said.
After Blackwell was arrested, Humberside Police told vigilante groups such as Silent Justice that it was ‘essential that they allow police officers to do their jobs and not to take matters into their own hands’.
‘It is the police that are responsible for investigating these serious crimes and we are best placed to achieve this in the interests of victims and the public,’ a spokeswoman for Humberside Police said at the time.
But summarising the case, Judge Bury said the members of Silent Justice had ‘played by the rules’ in helping to bring Blackwell to justice.
‘It is clear throughout the 14 days you had contact with her over the internet you realised she was an underage girl who was naive and inexperienced,’ he said.
Blackwell pleaded guilty to three counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, one count of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and one count of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.
He was jailed for three years and will sign on as a sex offender. He must also comply with a sexual harm prevention order.