A wheelchair-using paedophile was duped by an online vigilante group as he tried to meet a girl of 14, a judge heard on Monday.

Jason Roberts, aged 48, of Marion Road, Prestatyn, received a 15 months suspended jail term at Caernarfon crown court and must complete rehabilitation activities. A sexual harm prevention order was made and he must also register as a sex offender.

Judge Timothy Petts said during ten or eleven days last October Roberts had communicated with someone he believed to be 14 and he sent crude, sexualised and threatening messages.

But the judge said a prison term would be much harder on Roberts than other defendants. He remarked :”I can’t overlook the fact you have severe disabilities.”

Prosecutor Richard Edwards said Roberts had been caught by Creep Catchers UK. He’d sent “numerous messages crudely sexually inappropriate.” He arranged to meet at Prestatyn on October 27, telling the web user - who he believed to be a girl - that afterwards she would no longer be a virgin.

But a man from the vigilante group turned up. Police discovered Roberts had a pocket knife.

Simon Killeen, defending, said there was cognitive impairment and Roberts had never been in trouble before.

Roberts admitted trying to meet a girl after grooming, with sexual activity intended, and a count of knife possession.