July 2018 Pervert caught by paedophile hunters A pervert has been jailed after he was caught by a paedophile hunting team Scott Thorpe of Dukinfield appeared at court where he admitted a string of sexual offences involving grooming children online The court was told that Thorpe had contacted the profile of who he believed was a young girl. He sent a string of sexual messages. However, the profile belonged to online child protection team ‘Dark Light’ who handed their evidence into police. Rutter was arrested and later charged with various online grooming and indecent images of children offences.  Thorpe had a previous conviction for possession of indecent images of children. When the police analysed his phone, they discovered yet more images of children had been downloaded Because of this, Thorpe also breached the terms of his sex offenders prevention order Count one – 2 years imprisonment Count two – 14 months imprisonment Count three – 16 months imprisonment Count four – 16 months imprisonment Count five – 32 months imprisonment Count Six – 32 months imprisonment Count seven- 16 weeks imprisonment Because the above sentences were made concurrent, the total custodial sentence was given as two years and eight months The judge handed Thorpe an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and told him he must register as a sex offender for life