Paedophile promised One Direction gifts for '13-year-old girl' before Leeds hunter group sting

Hadee Salem drove from Newcastle to Leeds after arranging to meet the 13-year-old, only to find it was a decoy account set up by the group, Predator Exposure.

Gifts he had bought for the bogus girl were found in his car. The 41-year-old was jailed for three years at Leeds Crown Court this week.

Prosecuting, Vincent Blake-Barnard said Salem made contact in January of 2021, sending a friend request to the online profile. He immediately said he wanted to meet her, despite making it clear she was only 13 and from Leeds.

He told he would drive to West Yorkshire and she could stay with him, quizzing her about whether she had a boyfriend. He said they should have sex when they meet up for the second time, not the first. Salem also asked for naked pictures of her.

H persistently asked to meet, and a date was set for March 7, 2021 at Kirkstall Abbey. He told her he would buy her the pop band’s branded perfume and a mobile phone.

But he was confronted by the paedophile hunter group on arrival, who livestreamed the meeting over Facebook. They also surrounded his car with four other vehicles. After his arrest, he gave a no-comment interview to police and refused to hand over the PIN for his phone.

He has two previous convictions for criminal damage and a public order offence.

Salem, of Wilton Avenue, Newcastle, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to arrange a child sex offence, and attempting to meet a female under 16 following grooming.

Little mitigation was offered by his barrister Edward Steele, who said there was “not much he could say on his behalf”. He said that the he has two young children which he is no longer permitted contact, which had a “significant impact” on him.

Judge Robin Mairs said Salem was “clearly intending to engage in sexual activity with a child”. As well as the jail term, he gave him an unlimited-time sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), and told him to sign the sex offenders register for life.