An online vigilante group has snared a paedophile after he went to the shops to buy condoms for sex with an 11-year-old girl he had met online.
British man Mark McKenna, 38 was caught red-handed at a shopping centre near Darford, Kent in August when he was confronted by a man with a camera who asked him about explicit conversations he’d been having with someone he thought was a pubescent girl.
According to a report in Britain’s The Metro, the girl didn’t exist and McKenna can reportedly be heard saying in the footage: “I was expecting you.”
The paedophile hunters – who call themselves The Hunted One – handed over all of their information to police and McKenna was arrested.
McKenna – whose fiancée was away on a hens do when the whole thing went down – pleaded guilty to one offence of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, namely sexual activity with a child, between July 12 and August 7, 2016.
According to The Mail Online Judge Philip Statman remarked there was ‘considerable’ public interest in the case and while he adjourned sentencing until October 21 he warned the defendant he would be facing a lengthy sentence.
“I want to be absolutely clear that the reason I am asking for that report is to assess the issue of dangerousness,” said Judge Philip Statman.
“The inevitable outcome of this case is that you will be sent to prison for a substantial period of time.”
The Hunted One describes itself as ‘a secret organisation of dedicated parents pro-actively seeking out to expose online groomers, sexual predators and paedophiles’.
McKenna will be sentenced in October.
