A predator, who attempted to have sex with a child 22 years ago, has been brought to justice after a woman saw her abuser being confronted live on social media by vigilante paedophile hunters.
Malcolm Pringle, now 63, tried repeatedly to have sexual intercourse with the woman when she was a 10-year-old girl in the late 1990s.
He got away with his crimes against her until 2019 when he was lured into an online trap by the group, who posed as a 12-year-old girl.
Pringle asked the ‘girl’ to show him her chest and a few days later he was shocked to be confronted on his own doorstep by the vigilantes, who live streamed their visit on Facebook.
The woman who had been abused by Pringle in her childhood saw the Facebook confrontation and promptly contacted the police.
When Pringle was arrested he denied that he had ever touched the woman sexually but last week a jury at Gloucester Crown Court convicted him of two charges of attempted sexual intercourse with her.
He was jailed for 13 years.
Pringle, of Baneberry rd, Robinswood, Gloucester, had pleaded guilty to the recent offence of trying to incite the fictitious girl into sexual activity in Feb 2019.
Prosecutor Giles Nelson told the jury at the start of the trial: “In February 2019 he communicated via Facebook with an individual he believed to be a 12-year-old girl but in fact was an adult who was part of a group which attempts to trap those looking for young children on a sexual basis.
“The live streaming on Facebook on March 17th that year came to the attention of a lady who had been abused by this defendant 22 years earlier and what she saw prompted her to alert the police.
“The defendant was interviewed by the police and said that absolutely nothing happened between him and this girl 22 years ago and it was pure fantasy.
“The prosecution say, however, that he tried on several occasions to have sexual intercourse with her when she was a primary schoolgirl. “
Pringle had told his victim, then a girl, to “bunk off” school by saying she was unwell.
He would then meet her and take her to a shop to buy her treats such as cherries or sweets before taking her home and try to have penetrative sex with her, the prosecutor said.
But the girl was not physically developed enough for him to be able to have full sex with her as he wished – which was why the charges were of attempted sexual intercourse, Mr Nelson explained.
Mr Nelson said Pringle repeatedly told the girl that what he was doing was normal and there was nothing wrong with it.
“He took advantage of her innocence,” said Mr Nelson.