A PERVERT who posed as a policeman online to lure a nine-year-old boy for sex at a deserted railway station was snared by vigilante paedophile hunters.
Video footage shows the moment they confronted baby-faced predator Callum Bates, 18, after he sent graphic WhatsApp chats spelling out what he would do to the youngster.
Bates, who lied he was a trainee police constable called Connor, bombarded the young boy with explicit texts and invited him to his house for sex just five days after the first message.
He was not put off even when "Dillon" - really an adult posing as a child online - said he was just nine years old.
WhatsApp chat logs - too graphic to publish in full - show Bates repeatedly asking the decoy for naked photos and describing the planned abuse in sickening detail.
When "Dillon" said he was nervous and scared he might get in trouble, Bates assured him everything was above board because he was “a cop”.
And he even told the youngster meeting him for sex counts as "welfare".
Failed police cadet Bates believed he had persuaded his vulnerable young victim to travel 45 minutes alone on a train in the dead of night to meet him on January 3.
He broke down in tears when he was cornered at Andover railway station by members of SKID Group, who detained him at the scene until cops arrived.
Footage of the sting shows Bates in a black leather jacket standing alone on a platform as he is approached by two men and claims he is there "meeting a friend".
Holding him by the wrists, the first man asks: “Does a little boy named Dillon ring a bell?”
Bates hesitates at first then replies “yeah”, confessing that he believed the boy he had been speaking to was aged nine.
The hunter says: “What does that clock say up there, look? Why do you think a nine-year-old boy will be coming on a train, on his own, at 22 minutes past midnight. Nine years old. What are you thinking?”
The rattled pervert looks at the floor and mumbles: “I dunno”, then starts to weep as he is led away and sobs: “I’m just really scared.”
Bates, of Andover, Hants, pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming at Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday.
He was remanded in custody until sentencing on April 12.
Hampshire Constabulary said Bates had been accepted on its Volunteer Police Cadet scheme in 2016 but left without completing his induction.
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A spokesman for SKID Group said: “With Bates pleading guilty, our job is done and we are happy with this outcome.
"We put our trust in the justice system, as we do with every person we catch, and by working closely with the police we have been able to deliver a commendable number of convictions that help safeguard children online."
Police now rely on vigilante paedophile hunters in half of grooming cases, The Sun Online revealed in January.
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