Paedophile went to meet 13-year-old girl at Leeds Hollywood Bowl after offering to teach her 'how life can be'

Edgaras Zvironas, 32, believed that he was speaking to a schoolgirl when in reality he had exchanged countless messages with a decoy profile run by an adult paedophile hunter. Leeds Crown Court heard their conversations took place over the course of more than three weeks and the transcripts of the messages ran to hundreds of pages.

Zvironas had first made contact with the girl via Facebook Messenger on December 15 last year. Using an account with a fake name himself, he claimed that he was 25 and lived in Lincolnshire. The court heard how the girl asked if he was okay with the age difference and he frequently checked that her parents would not see their messages. He suggested in one message that she should trust him to teach her “how life can be”, while another said they could live together once she was 18.

Prosecutor Andrew Nixon said Zvironas switched to a different Facebook account – also under a fake name – and the girl again told him that she was only 13. They continued exchanging messages and he suggested they meet up as he was planning to visit a cousin in Leeds.

Having booked a hotel for January 8 this year, Zvironas suggested that the girl bring her school uniform so that she could stay over and go straight to class the next morning. He referred to her as his “girlfriend forever” and bought an iPad with a pink case as gift for their planned meeting at Hollywood Bowl in Kirkstall.

Members of the Predator Exposure group were waiting for Zvironas. They streamed live footage of the encounter and detained him until police arrived. The court heard he was on bail at the time after being arrested on suspicion of similar offences elsewhere in the country.

Zvironas, of Hatton Gardens, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming.

Ashleigh Metcalfe, mitigating, said her client had no previous convictions and a report by the Probation Service had found that there was a “good and realistic prospect” of rehabilitation. She said: “The report indicates that this is a man who, having moved to the UK many years ago, has integrated into society well. He has an extremely good work ethic. He works six nights a week in a row usually, at a factory where he has been promoted time and time again.”

Asking the judge to consider suspending any prison sentence, she said Zvironas was due to be promoted into a managerial position prior to his arrest and his home had been burgled while he was on being held remand. She also asked that a planned sexual harm prevention order be altered so that it allowed him to see his son, who lives elsewhere in the UK with his mother.

Jailing Zvironas for 20 months, Recorder David Gordon said only an immediate prison sentence was appropriate. He added: “I take the view that the defendant, at present, is a danger to the public.”