Dorset paedophile drove 90 miles to Swindon to meet with 'girl'

Benjamin Reina, 42, of Edmonsham near Wimborne, was snared by vigilante group Justice for the Innocent in summer 2019, Swindon Crown Court heard.

Reina began chatting with a “girl” on social media app Skout. She repeatedly told him she was 14-years-old, talking about school, homework, her mother disciplining her and having to do chores.

He sent an image of himself emerging from the shower and two pictures of his private parts.

On June 27, 2019, he sent a message to the decoy account: “Did you want me to teach you some stuff about sex ed?”

Benjamin Reina's custody shot Picture: WILTSHIRE POLICE

By July 7, the pair had arranged to meet-up in Swindon. Reina messaged her throughout the journey from his home near Wimborne to Wiltshire, but was instead met by a welcoming party from the vigilante group. They detained him until officers arrived. Messages pointed to him intending to engage in “foreplay” during the meeting.

He refused to provide the police with login details for his two mobile phones, with all the evidence in the case from the online conversation provided by the woman operating the decoy social media account.

Prosecutor Stephen Donnelly said: “Having been released on bail, Mr Reina then sent a letter to police which in short presents that Justice for the Innocent had misled him and that he was presenting himself as an innocent party.”

Reina had been due to stand trial earlier this year, but pleaded guilty to a single count of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming after the judge gave an indication as to the likely sentence he would receive.

Henry James, mitigating, said his client had turned to the internet after a breakdown in his mental health led to a split with his wife. “She effectively changed the locks and moved him out. It seemed with that breakdown and separation he moved into the world of the internet and it can be a seductive place.”

He had been frustrated in his efforts to make contact with others on the web. “He wasn’t brushed off by this person [the decoy account] and continued to engage with the conversation when he shouldn’t.”

Reina had worked all his life, had no previous convictions and was now living with family members and helping out on his parents’ smallholding.

Judge Peter Crabtree jailed him for 16 months, saying: “Here, immediate custody is not required to protect the public. I also accept there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation given you have some understanding of the offence, your previous good character and the proposal of the author of the pre-sentence report, who believes probation can work with you.”

However, he added that the offending involved sexual communication with a girl Reina believed to be 14, over two months and in the course of which he sent images of his private parts.

He was given a 10 year sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender.