Description A paedophile has been handed a two-year jail sentence for grooming a girl he believed was 12. Craig Hall, of High Road in Sandy, was jailed at Luton Crown Court yesterday after being found guilty of three counts of attempting to incite a child under the age of 13 to engage in a sexual act. The pervert struck up an online conversation with someone he believed to be 12 years old, and sent her sexually explicit messages as well as trying to persuade her to carry out a sexual act on him in exchange for money. But Hall was shocked to find he was being duped and was in fact talking to a 17-year-old teenager – who reported him to Bedfordshire Police. Investigating officer Nicky Owen, from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team at the force, said: “Hall believed she was only 12 years old, and thinking she was of such a young age spurred him on even more in his attempts to engage in sexual activity. “Behaviour such as this is completely unacceptable and it’s only right and proper that we thoroughly investigate sexual predators such as Hall, in order to ensure that they are made to pay the price for their actions.” The convicted paedophile has also been placed on the Sex Offender Register for 10 years and has received a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.