October 2020 Paedophile hunters pose as 13-year-old girl to snare cat-killing pervert A pervert, who once killed a cat and dumped it in a wheelie bin, was caught sending sexual messages to a ’13-year-old girl’. Paul Francis Woolston was back before the courts for the sex offence, three and a half years after his conviction for animal cruelty. In October last year Teesside Crown Court heard Woolston had two accounts on the dating app FastMeet, one on which he called himself an explicit name. The 45-year-old shared sexual messages with the ‘girl’ despite being told she was under-16. Paul Abrahams, prosecuting, said Woolston was caught out by a group called Child Online Safety Team (COST) which hunts paedophiles operating on the internet by posing as children. Woolston made contact with the ‘girl’ in April last year. Messages were sent with suggestions of sexual activity, the court heard. Woolston, of Cornwall Street in Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. He was given a 30-month community order and ordered to carry out 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 120 hours of unpaid work. Pictured: Paul Woolston outside court in 2017 and, right, being confronted by a paedophile hunting group