February 2017 Watch as paedophile hunters catch Horley pervert who thought he was meeting girl, 11, at Tesco A Horley dad-of-six who sent explicit messages to an “11-year-old girl” was caught by a group of paedophile hunters after arranging to meet her at the Tesco in Hookwood. Richard Wood told the “girl” he wanted to kiss her breasts, lips and stomach. But the “girl” he was in contact with was actually a member of an action group called the Internet Interceptors who had been posing as a young girl called Gemma. Having arranged to meet the fictional child he arrived at the supermarket and was confronted by members of the group. The 33-year-old appeared at Guildford Crown Court yesterday (Monday) where he received a ten-month suspended prison sentence, having previously pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child after sexual grooming. The court heard that Wood had been having numerous conversations over several days with “Gemma”, starting on December 1, 2016 on chat app Waplog. Wood invited Gemma to come to his flat and meet his cat. On December 7 the chat, which had now moved to WhatsApp, progressed. Prosecutor Ross Talbot told the court: “The defendant used an online chat app, Waplog, and whilst he was talking to a number of individuals struck up a conversation with a child named Gemma, aged 11. “The owner of the profile was actually Sarah Doherty who runs a vigilante-style internet group with the express aim of uncovering paedophiles. “The conversations were investigated and he quickly established her age, that she was at school and lived at home with her mother. “The conversations started on December 1 and continued over a number of days where the defendant suggested that she [Gemma] came to see him and his cat and spend time at his house.” The conversations included Wood wanting the girl to lie on his bed and him telling her about the things “he wanted to do with her”. Mr Talbot said: “These included kissing her on the lips, breasts and stomach and making love to her although he was worried about getting into trouble or being arrested. “They arranged to meet three days later on Saturday, December 10 outside Tesco at 11am “At 11.40am, Sarah Doherty attended the meeting place with two other adults, two grown men. One was using a camera to film what happened. “Miss Doherty showed the defendant a picture she had used for the fake profile and he said that he didn’t know who the photo was and was there to buy a new TV.” The video which was published by the Internet Interceptors is around 40 minutes long and shows the confrontation between Miss Doherty and Wood. In the video he accepts that he was there to meet Gemma. A passing police car was flagged down and Wood was arrested. A search of Wood’s flat was then carried out. Mr Talbot said: “Police found a gift bag in the flat containing a thong which was size small, that had been recently purchased and had love hearts on it. “Mr Wood was interviewed twice by police and remained silent both times. The first interview took place immediately after the arrest and the second when the web chat logs were obtained.” The court heard that Wood was cautioned in 2003 for shoplifting, criminal damage and common assault and in 2004 for possession of class C drugs. He pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming at an earlier hearing on January 9. Guy Russell, defending as Wood was sentenced yesterday, said that his client, who attended a special needs school, is vulnerable and not likely to repeat the offence again. He added: “He is 33 now but one wouldn’t know it in terms of his maturity, He seems to live a hermit life. There was no guile in the offence. “His intelligence is not equipped to deal with social situations. He is stuck in that flat for 24 hours a day, going out just to buy the absolute essentials. “He is vulnerable himself, he is just so immature. His difficulty is that he hasn’t got the insight to see what a problem this is. “From the video you can see he’s really got no idea, he’s frozen in the headlights of life outside the store. “He has six children, all of them have been taken into care. It’s very sad, he is inadequate. “He’s lost his [good] name and he is deeply ashamed. He could be managed in the community with a sexual prevention order.” Judge Peter Moss summarised that Wood, who relies on benefits but has had a series of cleaning jobs, is a “socially inept” and “sad individual”. He said: “You have struck up a number of conversations with a girl you thought was 11 and arranged to meet the 11-year-old after a number of days of conversations. “You have expressed a desire to have sexual contact with her. “You gave your right name and age and didn’t seek to use any subterfuge which seems quite naive. “There have been an enormous amount of issues for you in your life.” Judge Moss ordered Wood to pay £300 prosecution costs and a £140 victim surcharge which will be deducted from his benefits. Wood was also given a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years. Under this order he is prohibited from doing a number of things including deleting his computer history, buying or downloading evidence elimination software or activating encryption software. He is also banned from communicating with or being in his flat or vehicle with a child under the age of 16 unless accompanied by an adult who is aware of the order. Failure to comply with these terms could see Wood returned to court and his 10-month prison sentence activated.