A delivery driver who told a 13-year-old girl "age doesn't matter" was confronted by a paedophile vigilante group as he went to meet her at a McDonald's in Leeds.
Ian Wadsley, 47, began speaking to Poppy - a decoy he believed to be a 13-year-old girl named Poppy - on May 15 last year. Wadsley messaged "Poppy" on Facebook before the conversation moved to WhatsApp and turned sexual. During conversations with "Poppy" Wadsley told her sex would be ok as long as they used "party hats" - his codename for condoms.
Prosecutor, Alisha Kaye told Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday that Wadsley repeatedly asked Poppy - who told him a number of times she was 13 - if she "wanted to meet up." Ms Kaye said: "She said she was reluctant to meet him initially as she didn't know him. He asked what she wanted, meaning from the conversation, and asked her to meet him again. She said she was only 13 and he said age didn't matter as long as they loved each other and were happy."
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One conversation saw Wadsley, of Clog Mill Gardens in Selby, promise "Poppy" he "wasn't a weirdo" and he "wanted to meet her, get to know her and cuddle her."
Ms Kaye said: "He said it was like cuddling a boy as he wasn't very tall. He said he was looking for a girlfriend on Facebook and she said she was looking for someone nice and kind and he said he was and she could trust him and she was mature for her age." The court heard Wadsley told the decoy she could "make her own decisions" and "it was her life."
On May 17, Wadsley told "Poppy" she could "ask him anything", and she asked "if they would kiss." He replied "yes" and "If it led to anything else he would take party hats with him." The court heard that the next day Wadsley told the decoy she was his girlfriend and tried to arrange to meet her at a McDonald's in Leeds.
The same day, Wadsley sent "Poppy" an article about a 13-year-old girl who was having a relationship with an older man and said ir was the best thing that had happened to her. He told "Poppy" "It was society that made things difficult and laws were and unnecessary."
On May 22, he went to the McDonald's in Killingbeck Drive and was confronted by members of the Net Justice group, who had set up the decoy. They surrounded Wadsley's car and he was arrested. In interview with West Yorkshire Police officers, Wadsley admitted communicating with "Poppy" but denied it was sexual, and said he wanted to know why she had so many older men as friends on Facebook. He told officers he had lost his 14-year-old daughter to suicide and said it was "Poppy" who had "said about condoms and he had no intention of having sex with her."
The court was told that Wadsley was sentenced at York Magistrates' Court in September this year for an offence of stalking he committed while working as a delivery driver for Iceland. Ms Kaye said he had been released under investigation for the charges he was sentenced for on Tuesday in May 2021 and in March this year was arrested for the stalking offence.
She said the stalking charge related to a woman who was at home alone with her child and had used Iceland's delivery service while they had Covid. Ms Katie said: "He kept repeatedly turning up to her house when she was at home and one time he turned up with his hood up and his black mask covering his face."
He was handed a 12-month suspended sentence for that offence.
Mitigating, Anthony Sugare told the court Wadsley has had difficulties with his social relationships, in particular with developing relationships with the opposite sex. He said: "In his interview with police he tried to minimise his involvement but the moment he got to court and had legal advice he admitted everything all the way through."
His Honour Judge Batty jailed Wadsley for one year and six weeks for attempting to meet a child after sexual grooming and attempting to communicate with a child. He told him: "This was a determined attempt to form a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl. You persevered and on occasion bombarded her with messages . The most disturbing element was the article you sent her suggesting relationships between a young girl and much, much older man was acceptable.
"It could never be acceptable." The judge said he had "no doubt" Wadsley intended to have sex with "Poppy." He also made him the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and notification requirements for the next ten years.
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