A PERVERT who was stopped trying to meet who he thought was a teenage girl has been jailed.

Darren Rybak was stung by a group of so-called paedophile hunters at Barrow railway station.

The 50-year-old had been sending sexual messages to an account pretending to be a 13-year-old girl from Manchester.

But Rybak had been in contact with a decoy account run by online group the Elusive Child Protection Unit.

He was confronted at Barrow railway station by the activists on April 30 and arrested by police.

A video of the sting was posted on social media by the group.

In the video Rybak was confronted by members of the group outside the railway station, who claim he has arrived there to meet a girl who has travelled more than two hours from Manchester.

Rybak told the group he was going to take the 'girl' back to his home to 'watch movies'.

He also admitted sending explicit images of himself to the decoy account.

Rybak also told the group he would class himself as a 'paedophile'.

The dating site account he had communicated with was operated by a member of the group. 

Rybak, of Nelson Street in Barrow, previously admitted attempting to meet a girl under 16 years following grooming and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

At Preston Crown Court he was jailed for 18 months.

He was handed a sexual harm prevention order lasting ten years.

Police forces have consistently refused to condone the actions of paedophile hunter groups.

A Cumbria Police spokesman said: "Cumbria Constabulary will act appropriately on any information which is reported.

"However, the Constabulary’s position on so-called paedophile hunter groups reflects the position of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, in that we understand the desire to protect children but any member of the public who has information about child sexual abuse, online or otherwise, should contact police so it can be investigated and bring offenders to justice."