Dad caught exchanging 'disgusting' messages with 'schoolgirl' said he was 'looking for entertainment'

A man was stung by a paedophile hunter group after exchanging 'disgusting' messages with a decoy posting as a schoolgirl online.

Maaz Maaz, 35, met the girl online and spoke to her for two months. During their conversations she repeatedly told him that she was 13 and at school, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

In the chats, Maaz, of Blackburn, complimented her, asked if she was a virgin, asked her for explicit images and told her that she couldn’t have sex with anyone, but it was ‘OK with him’.

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He later warned her: “He would go mad, don’t tell [your dad].”

The father-of-one was caught out by the group and later arrested. He has since pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child. The court heard that he had been in a ‘low place’ at the time, and turned to internet chat rooms for ‘entertainment’.

Prosecuting, Rachel White said Maaz began speaking to someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl on messaging site Skout, but she was actually a decoy from a paedophile hunter group.

“The defendant initiated contact with that profile from December 2019 and was told from the outset that she was 13,” Ms White said.

“She reiterated her age on numerous occasions throughout the conversations but he persisted. She told the defendant that she was at school and lived with her father, and during the course of the conversations he told her she was ‘beautiful’ and ‘cute’.”

Maaz went on to tell the girl that her ‘lips are so nice’ and also asked if