This is the moment a convicted paedophile was snared by an internet vigilante group after he travelled 300 miles thinking he was about to meet a 14-year-old schoolgirl for sex.

Roger Lee, 45, who already had a previous conviction for sex with a 12-year-old, made the trip from Wiltshire to Newcastle believing he was going to meet the girl on the city's quayside.

But when he arrived he was confronted by members of the group Dark Justice, who caught him on camera and passed the information, including the messages he had sent, to the police.

Paedophile Roger Lee who has been jailed for two years and four months after he was caught by an internet vigilante group, who posed as an underage girl

Lee, of Pewsey in Wiltshire has now been sentenced to two years and four months in jail with an extended three year licence period after appearing at Newcastle Crown Court.

Prosecutor Tim Gittin told the court how the vigilantes set up a profile on the chat website Badoo.

Lee, who used the name 'ForHire', soon started chatting openly to who he thought was a 14-year-old and sent her graphic pictures of himself.

Mr Gittins said: 'He stated he liked young girls and had previously had a relationship with a female aged 12.

'The messages continued over several days and began to become sexually explicit, at the defendant's instigation.'

The court heard how Lee also sent three graphic pictures to who he thought was an underage girl and arranged to meet with her while her parents were away.

Mr Gittins said the meeting was arranged to take place on the Millennium Bridge on October 9 at 9am.

Lee, 45, left, had arranged to meet, who he thought was the 14-year-old on Newcastle's quayside after travelling 300 miles from his home in Wiltshire. But after he was confronted by the group, he ran away, right

He added: 'He was confronted by the two men, who were recording the confrontation on video.

'Not surprisingly, he realised that the game was up and immediately fled the scene.

'The two men reported the matter immediately to the police.'

The court heard within hours of being exposed, Lee made a suicide threat which prompted urgent action by police on a nationwide scale to have him found and arrested.

He then pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.

Judge Sean Morris said: 'You were caught by internet vigilantes, which is the best way of describing them, who pretended to be a female and you entered into a conversation with them on the internet.

The vigilantes set up a profile on the chat website Badoo and Lee, who used the name 'ForHire', soon started chatting openly to who he thought was a 14-year-old

'It soon became apparent what they did was pretend the female was 14. You went for it.

'I am firmly of the view you are a dangerous individual to young children.'

Lee must abide by a sexual offences prevention order and sign the sex offenders register for life.

The two men behind Dark Justice were at the sentencing hearing to see Lee sent to prison.

Speaking afterwards, the pair, who wish to remain anonymous, said they do don't consider themselves as vigilantes but 'concerned citizens of society.'

One of the men said: 'Every day we were picking up the paper and it is paedophile, paedophile, paedophile.

'We want to prevent this sort of thing from happening, see a change in the law so that internet users have to identify themselves by credit card, something has to happen.

'This sentence shows what we do works. We continue to do it.

Lee was sentenced to two years and four months in prison at Newcastle Crown Court, pictured, after admitting attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming

'The police reaction to what we are doing has been fine. They don't exactly say "get on with it" but they take us seriously.

'Lee was very open during the internet chats, he wasn't scared. I was shocked at how open he was and how keen he was to meet.

'As soon as we saw he had turned up we confronted him and said 'do you think it's appropriate to meet underage girls' and he was off.

'We don't want anyone to get hurt by what we do, we just want to protect people.'

Lee's previous convictions include sex with an underage girl and a six year term for robbery.