A vigilante group of ‘paedophile hunters’ helped put a man behind bars after he sent explicit pictures to a ‘girl’ he thought was just 12 years old.

Suresh Varsani, 27, of Harrow Road, was jailed for three years and four months for attempting to cause children to engage in sexual activity.

He was caught after members of the public had posed online as a 12-year-old girl known as Mollie Banner and an older girl known as Amber Jones.

They passed on information to the police after he sent “very explicit” images and text messages to both ‘Mollie’ and ‘Amber’.

At Harrow Crown Court, Varsani pleaded guilty to attempting to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child under 13 and attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch a sex act.

He admitted the same three offences in respect of a child aged 13 years or over.

In addition to his prison sentence, he was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and was handed a ten year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.