October 2018 Former civil servant tried to arrange a threesome with two schoolgirls A former civil servant tried to arrange a threesome with two schoolgirls – only to discover he was talking to Leeds based paedophile hunter team Predator Exposure Mark Roberts, 58, from Wirral sent a friend request on Facebook to a girl called Kiely, who told him she was 13-years-old, on August 10 last year. But that did not deter the “morbidly obese” pervert, who spent months talking to her about sex on a daily basis on Facebook Messenger. Liverpool Crown Court heard he sent her pictures of an erect penis, requested intimate naked pictures and discussed full and oral sex. Roberts then asked Kiely if she and a friend called Becky, 14, would sleep with him and offered to send them cash for travel or to pick them up. But when he went to meet the girls outside St George’s Hall, he was confronted by members of the online group Predator Exposure. They challenged Roberts, of Carmel Close, New Brighton, and put him under citizen’s arrest, at around 7.45pm on November 17 last year. Roberts worked for the Civil Service, in a department investigating benefit fraud, before retiring due to ill-health. Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, said police arrived and arrested the pervert, who accepted that he had gone to meet two underage girls. However, he denied there was any sexual motive, claiming it was “a joke”, even when speaking to probation officers for a pre-sentence report. Roberts, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity. Judge Woodhall said there was not a sufficient prospect of rehabilitation, given Roberts’ attitude. He jailed him for two years and told him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register and to comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.