A man who attempted to groom a person he believed to be a child into sexual activity has been jailed for five years.

Aron Bennett, aged 39, of Wildman Street, Kendal, was sentenced on Friday, November 6, at Preston Crown Court for the following offences:

• Attempt to cause/incite a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity
• Send by public communication network an indecent message
• Attempt to arrange / facilitate the commission of a child sex offence
• Adult attempt to engage in sexual communication with a child

Bennett’s offences came to light when officers were passed information by an online child abuse activist group.

The group had used an adult decoy who posed as a 13-year-old girl.

Bennett contacted the decoy in March 2018 attempting to engage them in sexual communication. Bennett sent numerous indecent messages over the subsequent days.

Once the information was passed to officers, Bennett was quickly arrested.

Cumbria Constabulary spokesperson said: “Bennett was persistent in his communications with the person who he believed to be 13 years old, frequently sending them messages of an inappropriate nature, asking for responses and discussing at length sexual acts he wanted to commit.

“Fortunately, the person he chose to communicate with was a decoy, but Bennett’s intent was clearly evident.

“Once the information was known to police, we swiftly arrested Bennett and began our own enquiries which found further offending.”