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Paul Lennox encouraged the youngster to perform sex acts on herself, repeatedly asked her for photographs, and mentioned going to see her soon. In fact Lennox was conversing with a "decoy" social media profile which was being run by a so-called paedophile hunter group. Judging by Facebook information it would seem that the operation to sting and arrest Lennox was a joint one between the 'vigilante' groups Dank Dragon and Sacred Souls. Both groups have over 50,000 followers and are part of a growing trend with a number of groups operating throughout the country.

Sending Lennox to prison a judge said the defendant was in denial about his sexual interest in children. The defendant missed sentence being passed as he walked out of the videolink booth in the prison where he is being held halfway through the hearing.

Hannah George, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that in February this year Lennox began messaging the profile of a 14-year-old girl on Facebook. He sent the profile a picture of himself, claimed he was aged 50, and called her a "very lovely young lady". The court heard the profile of the schoolgirl was actually a decoy account and when the decoy told Lennox she was 14 the defendant told her: "You are only as young as you feel."

Over the following week Lennox sent the defendant a series of messages in which he talked about sex, asked the decoy about her sexual experience, and sent her detailed instructions on how to perform sex acts on herself. He also sent her explicit videos showing adults having sex and made repeated requests for pictures of her. The court he also talked about taking the girl shopping and said he was planning to visit a friend in Essex – the county where the decoy said she lived – and that he would book a room in a Premier Inn hotel.

The prosecutor said the online exchanges were reported to the police and Lennox was arrested on February 26. His reply to being cautioned was to ask for a cigarette. The defendant was interviewed the following day and answered "no comment" to all questions asked. The defendant walked out of the prison videolink booth while the prosecutor was outlining the case against him and did not hear the remainder of the proceedings.

Paul Lennox, of Heathfield Court, Glynneath, Neath, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity when he appeared in the dock via videolink for sentencing. He had failed to attend a number of previous sentencing hearings forcing the case to be adjourned. Lennox 18 previous convictions for 61 offences including robbery. At the time of the online offences he was subject to an eight-week suspended prison sentence for breaching a restraining order.

Ashanti-Jade Walton, for Lennox, said the defendant had run a successful window-cleaning business for many years but had been living a "very isolated life" following the breakdown of his marriage. She said her client was remorseful for what he has done and acknowledges it was wrong but maintains he does not have a sexual interest in children. She added the defendant "is concerned about what his life will be like when he is released".

Judge Geraint Walters said men like Lennox were in denial about their sexual interest in children and he said he did not accept "for one moment" the assertion that the defendant was not getting sexual pleasure out of his online communications. With a 15% discount for his guilty pleas Lennox was sentenced to three years and four months in prison. The judge activated the previously imposed eight-week prison sentence to run concurrently with the new sentence. The defendant will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Lennox was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offenders register for life.