A GROUP that hunts and exposes online sexual predators caught a man who sent indecent images of himself to a girl he believed to be just 13 years old.

Steven Livesey sent a string of messages, plus photographs of his erect penis, to the girl over a four-week period not realising she was a decoy.

When he gave out his home address he was confronted by members of the group and arrested by police.

Livesey, 25, of Huddersfield Road, Elland, will have to sign the sex offender’s register for 10 years after being sentenced at Bradford Crown Court to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years.

Prosecutor Joseph Bell told the court how on September 23, 2022, Livesey sent a friend request to a girl who said from the outset that she was 13 years old.

After initially saying she was too young for him and blocking her he resent the friend request a week later and began a series of sexualised conversations that culminated in him sending her several pictures of himself in a state of arousal.

During the time they were exchanging messages, Livesey told the girl to delete their conversations but also told her he wanted to have sex with her and talked to her about sex education.

He repeated his request to her not to report him.

He blocked her again, unblocked her two days later, and over the next fortnight explicitly told the teenager how he wanted to have sex with her.

He asked her to keep his request for a naked picture of her “as her little secret”.

After sending more pictures of his penis he divulged his home address and that afternoon was confronted on the doorstep by the online group that had set up the decoy.

In an interview with police, he gave “no comment” answers but later pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communications with a child and causing a child to watch a sexual act.

Police were able to view the messages he sent on his mobile phone.

Mitigating, Saf Salem said Livesey, who a psychiatrist said suffered from deficits in social skills, a lack of confidence, and anxiety in social situations, accepted that his behaviour was wrong and illegal.

Sentencing Livesey Mr Recorder Paul Reid said he derived little mitigation for his attempts at communication “because it’s quite clear you did think that there was a very young child involved in the communications which you conducted two years ago.

“The case arose because of the operations of an online organisation which seeks to expose men such as yourself, and indeed women, who are rightly described as sexual predators.

“On October 27 you provided her with your home address, so the operatives of this online social media group did not have to work very hard to find out where you lived.

“The messages … were all found on your phone.”

He imposed a 10-year sexual harm protection order on Livesey and said he must undertake 40 rehabilitation activity requirement days as he works with the probation service to address his behaviour.