A man snared by paedophile hunters in a sting in Swindon has been jailed.
Benjamin Reina, 42, was arrested after being confronted by the group Seek and Expose – formerly named Justice for the Innocent – on 7 July 2019.
The defendant had spent around two months having sexual conversations with the ’14-year-old girl’, who turned out to be a decoy profile set up by the paedophile hunters for the purpose of trapping sexual predators online.
He’s also said to have sent explicit photographs before arranging to meet her.
Reina, of Wimborne, Dorset, arranged to meet the child at Cineworld in Shaw Ridge, West Swindon, where he was surrounded by the group. Police officers soon arrived to arrest him.
He pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming at Swindon Crown Court where he was sentenced today.
Judge Peter Crabtree sent Reina to prison for 16 months, imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, told him to register as a sex offender for ten years and barred him from working with children or vulnerable people.
You can watch the moment Seek and Expose confronted Reina on Facebook.
