Known Wakefield paedophile deemed a danger after grooming three girls online 'looking for sex'

Luckily, the three profiles Carl Wood had targeted were all decoys run by paedophile hunter groups. The 62-year-old was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week after the judge said Wood had persistently committed sexual crimes over a 20-year period, having been previously jailed in 2000 for raping a woman and then for attempting to engage a child in sexual activity in 2015.

He was given a custodial sentence of 41 months, with a 60-month extended licence period.

Prosecutor Anthony Moore said Wood, of Kirkgate, Wakefield, resumed his offending in October 2019. He made contact with the profile of two supposed 13-year-old girls and a 14-year-old, making it clear he was after sex. He instigated sexualised conversations with them, asked for photos of them in their underwear and even sent videos of himself masturbating.

He was arrested weeks later from his home, but knowing officers were coming, he told them he had deleted all incriminating evidence from his phone, had reset the device and had flushed the SIM card down the toilet. Having been bailed, he then continued to send messages to one of the "girls", still believing her to be genuine.

He was arrested again on January 30, 2020 and interviewed. Like his previous arrest, he refused to answer police questions. He later admitted three counts of attempting to communicate sexually with a child, two of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act, and breach of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) he had been given to help curb his internet use from his previous offending.

Wood had been jailed for six years in 2000 for the rape of a woman at a party. He was then snared by a paedophile hunter group in 2015 for attempting to incite a child into sexual activity, for which he was given a 22-month jail sentence.

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Mitigating for his latest offending, Jo Shepherd said Wood struggled to accept his behaviour, having initially claimed he knew the profiles were adults.

She said he has since stopped using the internet and following this offending - which dates back more than four years - has stayed out of trouble.

The judge, the Recorder of Leeds, Guy Kearl KC, said a pre-sentence report into Wood found that he has "deeply entrenched behaviour" and took "little or no responsibility" for his actions.

He told him: "You are a repeat sex offender over a period of some 20 years. Each profile was groomed and you invited them to have sex with you. You pose a significant risk of serious harm to children."