A US airman who tried to meet a 12-year-old while he was stationed in England has been jailed after paedophile hunters caught him out.

Jacob Ozbirn was based at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk when he began grooming what he believed to be a young girl online.

He was sentenced to three years in an American military jail after arranging to meet two hours from the base.

Claiming to be a virgin, he even tried to book a hotel for him and the schoolgirl before driving to the agreed meeting place.

But the 30-year-old had in fact been talking to a member of Keeping Kids Safe, who broadcast their 'sting' live on Facebook as Ozbirn claimed to be meeting the girl to educate her about the dangers of online predators.

The elite airman will be kicked out of the military once he has served the jail term in his home country. The military will not reveal where in the US he is from due to privacy reasons.

Ozbirn, who was being fast-tracked for promotion, was caught out after he travelled to a secluded country lane in Bretby, Derbyshire, to meet an underage girl after grooming her online and was caught on camera by the vigilantes.

The airman - pictured - is serving time in a military jail following his attempt to meet a girl aged 12 while he was stationed in England

During the 57-minute video, Ozbirn can be seen saying he had groomed the child in a bid to meet up and simply educate her about the dangers of predators, rather than for any other intentions. He said he believed he had not broken the law by grooming the child.

The American, who had been an Airman First Class assigned to the 352nd Special Operations Support Squadron, was based in Suffolk, at the time of his arrest in August last year.

At the time he was 30 years old, but the US military will not release his current age for privacy reasons.

Derbyshire Police made the arrest after being contacted by the paedophile hunters, but the case was later handed to the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

The elite serviceman attempted to explain away his actions by claiming he had planned to warn the girl about predators during the meeting

Airman First Class Ozbirn appeared before a military court and found guilty following a three-day trial last month.

Under US law, he faced two charges of attempted sexual abuse of a child - for sending lewd texts to someone who he thought was a 12-year-old girl - one charge of attempted sexual assault of a child and one charge of attempted possession of child pornography.

Captain Chris Sullivan, public affairs advisor of the 352nd Special Operations Wing at RAF Mildenhall, said: 'As military members, we must adhere to the highest standards of professionalism.

'We will continue to use all available resources to identify and investigate members suspected of failing to meet our standards, and when necessary, take appropriate administrative or disciplinary action against them.'

Ozbirn, who was based at Mildenhall for a year, was been deported back to the US following the sting.

Airman First Class (A1C) is the third enlisted rank in the US Air Force, just above Airman and below Senior Airman.

Ozbirn had just been selected for the Below The Zone (BTZ) early promotion program offered to enlisted U.S. Air Force personnel. Entry is restricted to elite Airmen who stand out from their peers and perform duties at a level above their current rank.

His rank has now been reduced to basic airman and after his release from prison he will be dishonourably discharged from the Air Force.

Ozbirn, who told the Keeping Kids Safe decoy that his job was to 'make maps', will also be required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

Members of Keeping Kids Safe and another paedophile hunter called GP Hunter, based in Burton, Staffordshire, attended the trial at the US air base.

After attempting meet a young girl, Oxbirn maintained his innocence and said he was trying to warn youngsters

Throughout the video, which has been seen by more than 278,000 times since it went live 10 months ago, Ozbirn maintains he had groomed the child and then arranged to meet her to 'educate her'.

In his texts to decoys from Keeping Kids Safe, which were read out during the video, he alleged he had tried to book a hotel room but discovered there were no rooms available.

The serviceman later said he and the girl would 'have to use' his car, adding it was 'old but clean', or find another location.

Ozbirn, who said he was a virgin in the video, also asked the girl, who had told him she was 12, if she was okay to have sex with him.

During the encounter with the vigilantes which was camera as the encounter and broadcast live via Facebook Ozbirn claimed: 'I come out to educate these girls.'

He later said he did not believe grooming was breaking the law because he did not have sex with her.

In the sting video, the group informs him it is illegal to groom underage children, to which he says: 'It is part of how a predator acts, to put it out there to try and meet a girl.

'I act like that predator in order to say that. When I meet them I would say "You realise this could put you in a lot of danger?"'

One of the members then said: 'It took you about two hours to get here. You travelled all this way to tell a 12-year-old it is dangerous?'

He replied: 'You guys are completely mistaken with my intentions. I didn’t come here to do anything wrong.'

He then said 'education' when asked if he thought it was all right to speak in such a sexual way to young children.

He said he wanted to educate her after a young person he knew had been raped.

He was told: 'You should have just said "you’re 12 years old you shouldn’t be on this site" and that’s it.'

He was later told by the group: 'You are so disgusting in your chats. You are unbelievable, you really are.

'He is an absolute disgrace to our armed forces. I have massive respect for our armed forces and he is a massive disgrace.'

A spokesman for organisation said: 'Ozbirn arranged to meet two decoys for sex and was caught on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border.

'We had three decoys in total on him. A massive well done to everyone on this case as at times it was very mentally straining and had members away from their families for a week.

'Again a massive thank you and well done for the commitment in going to court and getting the result and to everyone else that was also questioned by the OCI (Office of Criminal Investigation).'

Police have warned 'so-called paedophile hunters' can undermine police investigations and they have no way of safeguarding child victims.

Anyone who may suspected a child is being groomed should contact the local police force on 101.

The NSPCC also provides advice on online safety which is available by calling the helpline on 0808 800 5002.