Parents capture Facebook predator

Welcome to the Internet -- the place where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents.

t could have turned out worse, I am glad it did not. However, if the parents had not stumbled onto the facebook activity who knows what the outcome might have been.

A lot of households have children more PC literate than their parents. Their kids are even more vulnerable. Then there are kids in care homes and similar places. Who cares/looks out for them?

Personally I think facebook is not the way society should be communicating and parents particularly should exercise a great deal of caution in this area.

The parents that posed as a kid should get the same punishment, what's the difference? And if brits are allowed to pull this crap soon the entire internet will be swarmed with what seems to be 10yo coming on like crazy, but are in fact the entire insane population of britain.
Also: 16 freaking months for doing nothing? Nice 'justice' there.

The 52 year old man got 16 months and thats good .He should have gotten longer . But on the other case the 11 year old girl that lied about her age to get a facebook account, should be held accountable. the 11 yr girl and her parents should be doing 24 months of community service for lieing about her age.

If she was only 11 then she must have lied about her age to get the account.

How many people who create online accounts actually are honest about themselves when they set up their account?

We all know that the media does not print all of the facts (Court journo), they like the story to be more sensational.

So let us imagine that this 11 year old said she was 17, blonde, 4'.16", blue eyes, 38-26-30 measurements etc, mature for her age, her school mates called her the town bike -what ever that means etc.
Sure, its still a 52 year old bloke grooming a 17 year girl, but would a 17 year old girl on facebook chat with this guy or would she sniff him out quickly - would it have esculated?

We are all but Avatars

I'm often astonished when I read stories like this that someone can be so stupid to think they could set up a meeting with a young girl without the possibility of the parents becoming aware. Isn't it equally as likely that the parents were trying to prostitute their daughter but got spooked into squealing on their client. Bet that it happens a lot but can never be proven.

I was being hyperbolic, but the reality is that sex offenders who target children are the number 1 target for murder in American prisons. And yes, America is a nasty place, I live here. Often times The Inq. tries to play the UK against the US and vice versa, most notably Nick Ferret. Don't buy into his hate guys. We are all humans. I do hope that guy at least gets punched in the face during his stay at your posh English prison though.

You can chat with as much kids as you like. Can seduce as many as you like, if you got 1 in every 100 tries, you'll have more kids than you can ever abuse.
16 months is not enough, as 16 years are not too. Pedophilia is a sickness that has no cure, as soon the pedophile gets out of jail, he/she will prey again. There must be a lifetime treatment which they must comply or be jailed by not doing so. That's the only way.

Only 16 months for trying to have sex with a minor? Are you freaking kidding me? That's nothing but a slap on the wrist... People like that should be locked up for a long, long time! When it's done to an adult, it's bad enough, but when it's done against children, the penalty should be much stiffer.

Second, everyone that goes to prison doesn't get raped in America. It happens, but not as much as you think.

jeff e: "Have fun getting raped in jail scumbag"

erm... This guy was imprisoned in England; not America. Male rape in prisons does not happen over here, and believe me i know. I served 10 years in various English prisons.

Good for the parents. I couldn't imagine being a parent of a young girl these days. 16 months? Clearly that man is a predator and probably deserved more time than that. She's 11, not some 16 or 17 year old going on 25, she's 11. Disgusting. Have fun getting raped in jail scumbag.

Mostly those sites are harmless, its the predators that are the problem.

It's just like playing outside, you got to teach your kids the dangers and that the only monsters in our world are people.

Look at it another way, this guy is a predator and the parents have managed to get him locked up for 16 months. Well done to them.

They also keep an eye on their daughter when she is on the internet, again well done the parents.

The parents help make the trap and the guy got caught. And yet again well done the parents.

I think they were very impressive at a time when they would have been feeling some very strong feelings towards this guy.

Hopefully they have his photo and stick up some posters on trees where this guy lives when he's due to get out.

I think that face tatooing should be considered as a way of marking and identifying dangerous people.

Why on earth would you allow an eleven year old to to have a facefcuk account is beyond me. The type of people out there....
Parents these days; they have all forgotten their duties.

You're right, you have to be at least 13 years old. Nice going parents!

I'd also imagine an 11 year old wouldn't know enough people to even bother having a facebook account.

Good job for the parents, but why does she even have a Facebook account? My eleven year old daughter wants a Facebook account but I won't give her permission. In addition, the last time I checked, Facebook's terms of service required a minimum age of thirteen.