POLICE forces combined to catch paedophile John Peter Noble by a successful sting operation and put him behind bars.

When the 36-year-old was arrested in Ripon’s Market Place it was the culmination of weeks of work by the North Yorkshire Online Abuse and Exploitation Team and the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime (YHROC).

An undercover police officer had posed online as the single parent of two girls aged four and a few months on social media and responded to Noble’s bid to contact a woman with children.

She listened to what he had to say and told her colleagues all about the meeting Noble set up with her and her “child”.

She also kept records of his messages and what he told her.

She didn’t go to the meeting – but her colleagues did - and the evidence against Noble was so strong he pleaded guilty at his first court appearance.

Detective Sergeant Lee Allenby, of the Online Abuse and Exploitation Team, said: “Noble simply could not resist acting on his sexual deviancy towards children. It is frightening to think that he was actively arranging to rape a child.

“This was a successful operation where the extensive and strong collaboration between North Yorkshire Police’s Online Abuse and Exploitation Team and Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit, ensured Noble was brought to justice.

“It also showed the lengths of depravity that Noble would go to conduct child sex abuse.

“A long custodial sentence is a pleasing outcome in this case, and it sends a stark warning to other paedophiles who think they can operate with impunity online.”

Read what the judge had to say about Noble here

Detective Inspector Marie Bulmer, from YHROCU, said: “This forms part of our continued priority to protect children from sexual exploitation from those who seek to do them harm.

“Law enforcement operates across the internet, and we will relentlessly seek to bring to justice individuals who use the web to facilitate the abuse of children.

“If anyone has been a victim of child sexual abuse, I urge you to report it to your local police force via 101. We will always follow up allegations of abuse, no matter when they occurred. Victims can talk in confidence to experienced investigators and we can also help them get access to a range of other support services.”