April 2022 Prolific paedo tried to meet up with 14-year-old girl at bus station A prolific paedophile was caught out after trying to meet a teenage girl at Castleford bus station. Craig Richardson, 36, of School Street, had been talking to what he thought were two teenage girls online. Leeds Crown Court heard on Friday Richardson was actually speaking to two “decoys” he thought were teenage girls named Nikki and Lucy. Judge Tom Bayliss QC told the court Richardson was told the girls were 13 and 14 when he began talking to them. He told him: “In December 2021 you began chatting to Nikki and was told she was 14. You sent her a picture of you and asked for one back and the chat became sexualised and you requested pictures of her breasts and told her you wanted to have sex with her.” Richardson arranged to meet who he thought was Nikki at Castleford bus station and was subsequently arrested. Judge Bayliss said: “You went in January with the objective of putting into practice what you said you were going to do with her.” The court heard Richardson began speaking with who he believed to be “Lucy” on Boxing Day 2021, and conversation followed in the same vein as that with Nikki. Judge Bayliss said the offences took place all while Richardson was under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for previous offences. In March last year he was jailed for a year-and-a-half for similar offences where he tried to incite a girl – another decoy – into sexual activity before vigilante paedophile hunters showed up at his home to confront him. Again Richardson was subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) at the time. Mitigating, Jane Cooper, told the court the offences for which Richardson was to be sentenced for on Friday – two counts of attempting to breach Sexual Harm Prevention Order, two counts of attempting to communicate sexually with a child, two counts of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act, two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to meet a child following grooming – took place over a period of time that was “relatively short-lived.” Judge Bayliss said he concluded that Richardson is a “risk to children” and a “risk of causing serious harm to children” if he “ever manages to engage with a real child.” March 2021 Leeds convicted paedophile jailed after contacting ‘girl’ online A convicted paedophile has been sent back to prison after being caught trying to contact a ‘child’ online. Craig Richardson tried to incite the ‘girl’ into sexual activity before vigilante paedophile hunters showed up at his home to confront him on June 25 last year. He had actually been talking to a member of the group Predator Exposure for almost a week and was caught in their sting. Richardson, of Hawkswood Avenue, Kirkstall, Leeds, was subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) at the time. The 35-year-old pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communications with a girl under the age of 16, attempting to cause or incite a girl aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity and breaching a SHPO. He was jailed for a year-and-a-half on Friday at Leeds Crown Court. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.