A Barrow man has been jailed after a paedophile hunter group carried out a sting online.
Darren Rybak, 50, of Nelson Street, arranged to meet a girl at the town’s train station. The meet was set up by the child sexual exploitation group after he had sexually groomed the girl online, who was actually a decoy.
The group reported Rybak to police, who arrested him, seized his mobile phone and carried out a search of his home address, seizing more items.
He appeared at Preston Crown Court on Friday and was sentenced to a year and six months behind bars.
He was jailed for attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
Rybak was also given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
T/Detective Constable Ashlynne Elliot said “Our main focus is to protect vulnerable people from harm.
“Today’s sentence puts another offender behind bars, I encourage anyone who has concerns that a child might be a victim of online child sexual exploitation or abuse to contact us.
“We are committed to protecting children from sexual abuse and online child sexual exploitation, with specialist officers from our Cyber and Digital Crime Unit, working together in partnership with support agencies across Cumbria to investigate and bring perpetrators of these horrific crimes before the courts.”
A spokesman for Cumbria Constabulary said: “We will act appropriately on any information which is reported.
“However, the constabulary’s position on so-called paedophile hunter groups reflects the position of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, in that we understand the desire to protect children but any member of the public who has information about child sexual abuse, online or otherwise, should contact police so it can be investigated and bring offenders to justice.”
