A man from Bramford who was caught by a paedophile hunter group posing as a 12-year-old girl has been handed a suspended sentence.

On Monday, Adam Williams, of Elizabeth Way, in Bramford, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court.

He was facing a charge of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, an offence to which he had pleaded guilty in the magistrates’ court.

The court heard that between February 24 and March 9 this year, 38-year-old Williams had been messaging a decoy posing as an underage girl, a profile created by the group ‘Justice for Kids’.

Simon Gladwell, prosecuting, told the court that the decoy’s age of 12 years was clearly visible in the decoy’s profile.

Williams exchanged messages with the decoy via Facebook and WhatsApp.

Williams sent the decoy sexually explicit images and videos of himself, and asked for her to send intimate photographs for him.

Williams told the girl he loved her and wanted to have sex with her.

He arranged to meet the girl at a hotel close to where he believed she lived in Stoke-on-Trent. Williams was arrested at the hotel.

Joanne Eley, defence, told the court that Williams has said that was in a bad place at the time and was “not thinking straight”.

In sentencing Williams, Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley said: “It could have very easily been a child you were in contact with.”

She sentenced him to 14 months imprisonment, reduced from 21 months in light of his guilty pleas. Judge Talbot-Hadley then suspended this sentence for a period of two years.

Williams will be submitted to trail monitoring for the next 6 months, and will be required to undertake up to 40 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) for the next five years and subject to a notification requirement for the next 10 years, meaning that he is obliged to share certain information with the police.

Williams will also pay a victim surcharge of £187.