Internet pervert caught out after '˜15-year-old boy' sting

Instead of meeting up with a teenager, Mark Ingleton was instead confronted by two men who had set up the internet sting.

Leeds Crown Court heard Ingleton believed he had been chatting to a 15-year-old boy after making contact through an adult dating website.

Tony Kellbrick, prosecuting, said: “It was a man posing as a young boy trying to identify people who might be contacting teenagers on that site.”

Ingleton, 50, of Bradley Avenue, Castleford, sent messages to the ‘victim’ saying he wanted to kiss him and sleep with him.

He then arranged a meeting outside Barnsley town hall on April 18 this year.

When Ingleton turned up he was confronted by two men who informed police. He was interviewed by officers and said he was “a sad old man” who wanted friendship.

The court heard Ingleton was made the subject of a suspended sentence and a sexual harm prevention order in February this year after arranging to meet a 13-year-old boy in similar circumstances.

Ingleton pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and two breaches of a sexual harm prevention order.

Oliver Thorne, mitigating, said Ingleton accepted that he would be going to prison as he was in breach of a suspended sentence.

He said Ingleton began offending after splitting up with his partner.