A man who sexually groomed and arranged to meet a 12-year-old girl only to find he had been ‘set up’, has been jailed.
David Asser, 49, of Hertford Road, Enfield, began engaging in ‘sexually explicit’ communication with the girl on an online chatroom in November 2020, despite the ‘girl’ stating she was aged 12.
Over the next week, Asser made arrangements for the pair to meet, however, he was being set up by an online paedophile-hunting group posing as the child.
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On December 7, Asser went to meet the ‘girl’ at a prearranged place on Mandeville Road, Enfield.
However, when he arrived he was confronted and detained by the paedophile hunters.
Police were called and Asser was arrested.
Items were seized from his address which demonstrated his attempts to groom and sexually exploit the 12-year-old girl he thought he was communicating with.
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Asser pleaded guilty on August 25 at Wood Green Crown Court to one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a girl under the age of 16 and one count of attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16 following grooming.
On Tuesday (November 23), he was sentenced to 28 months’ imprisonment and will be recorded on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years.
DC Lee Jeffrey from the North Area Command Unit said: “David Asser was fully aware of the age of the girl he believed he was communicating with yet despite this, he persisted in making sexually explicit suggestions to her and then made efforts to physically meet with her.
“His actions are deplorable and it is right he has been held to account for this.”
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