Paedophile intending to have sex with 14-year-old jailed for 18-months

Paedophile hunter groups Cobra United Kingdom and the Confronted and Caught used the fake identity of a 14-year-old, "Ruby," to catch a 38-year-old paedophile named Abdul Aziz. The pervert continued to send lewd messages even after knowing the age of the girl he was messaging. Police also found indecent images of pre-teens on his phone. Preston Crown Court sentenced Aziz to 18-months behind bars.

Aziz had been staying at Sandhurst Street, Burnley on an extended family visa. During his stay in the UK, he planned to have sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl from London. Aziz's first message to Ruby was an indecent proposal to have sex. When Ruby responded stating that she was 14 and had no idea what Aziz was talking about, Aziz responded by saying he wanted to "hang out and make love."

After establishing contact with Ruby, Aziz kept sending her lewd messages for four weeks. Aziz wanted Ruby to send him pictures of herself in her bra. When Ruby told him that she could not do so because her phone was broken, Aziz offered to pay to get the phone fixed.

The desperate pervert planned to meet Ruby at Burnley Bus Station from where he said he would take her to Rochdale. Aziz was unaware that he had been messaging a 41-year-old member of the paedophile hunter group, Cobra UK. On August 26, 2019, members of Cobra UK and Confronted and Caught nabbed Aziz.

The police arrived on the scene and confiscated the two Samsung phones which belonged to Aziz. The investigators found 18 indecent images of pre-teens on the phone. Aziz claimed that someone had sent him the images and he thought he had deleted them. The court was informed that the images were saved in the same folder as family pictures.

Aziz pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images of children as well as attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence. The Bolton News reported that Aziz's probation assessment stated that he "posed a high risk of harm to children and vulnerable females." Judge Heather Lloyd of the Preston Crown Court sentenced Aziz to 18-months in prison. Aziz also received a 10-year sexual harm prevention order during which he will be on the sex offenders register.

The defence claimed that Aziz had come to the UK on an extended visa weeks before he committed the offences. His conviction ensures that his visa will not be renewed forcing him to be deported.