November 2019 Moment paedophile hunters corner half-naked North Staffordshire pervert for sending twisted photos to ’13-year-old girl’ This was the moment a half-naked pervert was confronted by paedophile hunters in North Staffordshire. The shocking footage has been reposted by Safeguarding Kids Online after Derek Leonard appeared in court to be sentenced yesterday. It shows the 27-year-old – who has distinctive tattoos on his chest and arms – standing against a brick wall in Cheadle as the exposers quiz him about sending photos to a ’13-year-old child’. Despite protesting his innocence at the time, unemployed Leonard eventually says: ‘I’ve done wrong, I’m sorry’. He also blames his crimes on drink and drugs and says what he’s done is ‘sick’. However, he continues to deny he’s sexually attracted to children. Leonard tells the confronters: “It must have been when I was on the drugs and that. I can’t remember anything really. I must have missed that she was 13. I aren’t attracted to children.” The SKO members repeatedly tell him that the evidence will be used against him and police will use a Section 18 to search his home. They also suggest he seeks help for his issues. At one point he is allowed to make a roll-up before putting on a red hoodie. Passersby can be heard telling the paedophile hunters ‘Well done guys’. The video ends with Leonard being placed in a police car. At Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday, Leonard went on to plead guilty to a charge of attempting to sexually communicate with a child. The court heard Leonard had been chatting on Facebook messenger with a girl he believed to be aged 13, but in fact was an adult posing as a child. The conversation turned sexual and he sent images of himself in his boxer shorts and another with his genitals deleted. Leonard has since been hounded out of Cheadle after the video was live-streamed on Facebook. He has since moved moved to Birmingham. SKO says its only goal is to, ‘protect children online from internet predators and existing sex offenders/ paedophiles’. And Facebook users welcomed the sting. One said: “Good job guys. He needs a custodial though. He lives a street away from my 10 year old sister and her friends.” Another added: “Well done to all involved. It’s good to know someone is clearing up the streets of these vile people.” Leonard was handed a community order for 18 months, with a requirement for 30 hours of rehabilitation activity and an alcohol treatment requirement. He was also hit with a sexual harm prevention order and ordered to keep police informed of his whereabouts.