December 2016 Sex offender caught TWICE by ‘Guardians of the North’ avoids prison A man who believed he was grooming young girls for sex has avoided a prison sentence Scott Marsh Jones/Hawthorn of Birmingham was caught on two separate occasions by an online child protection team called the Guardians of the North after he engaged in conversation with two separate decoy accounts which represented two girls aged 13 and 11 The court was told that the pervert contacted the groups second decoy after he had already been charged with attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming and was on bail. As the conversations progressed, they continued to have sexual overtones, essentially containing clear sexual requests and topics, raised on each occasion by the defendant asking about having sex, making requests as to what would happen if the two met up. He was given an 18 month suspended sentence and told he must adhere to a 10 year sexual harm prevention order. He was also told he must register as a sex offender for a period of 10 years. The judge placed a supervision order which does not allow him to be with anyone under the age of 16. He was also banned from possessing any device which could take photos or allow internet access. A spokesman for the Guardians of the North described his comments as the most graphic they had encountered, and were shocked that he had contacted not one but two of their decoys, whilst being on bail. They said they were appalled with the sentence handed down as it did not act as a deterrent in any way.