A FORMER mayor who tried to meet a 15-year-old boy for sex is starting a prison sentence after being caught by paedophile hunters.

Lee Cook, who was mayor of Peterlee until his arrest, thought he was going to meet a boy he had been chatting to through the mobile phone app Grindr.

But instead he was caught by a sting operation by Guardians of the North, an anti-child abuse campaign group.

Robin Turton, prosecuting, told Durham Crown Court that Cook had exchanged explicit pictures of himself with a woman posing as a 15-year-old boy and had sent a series of messages which made it clear he thought he was meeting him for sex on the evening of August 5.

Initially, Cook had told police that he had misunderstood the messages and thought the figure 15 referred to the number of miles between them rather than the age of the person he was going to meet.

But he later abandoned the defence, which Recorder Peter Makepeace described as “palpable nonsense”.

The 30-year-old admitted attempting to meet a boy under the age of 16 following grooming.

Penny Bottomley, mitigating said: “This matter is one that is an attempt and there was no actual child involved.

“The person who has got involved in the conversation is an adult and she did so of her own free will. It is accepted there were sexual images exchanged but no children saw those sexual images.”

She added: “Mr Cook is someone who has carried out work in the community and has helped people where he can.”

The court heard that Cook has had to move home following death threats made after his address was posted on the social media group Peterlee Have your Say.

Recorder Makepeace handed Cook a sentence of 12 months in prison and made a sexual harm prevention order.

He said: “This is going to be a difficult experience for you and it has been a difficult experience already.

“You have been subject to vigilante threats that were serious enough that you might have been remanded in custody for your own safety but it is a consequence of your own actions.

“I think you are genuinely remorseful and have genuine regret “I can reduce your sentence to 12 months but that has to be served immediately.

“You thought you were going to meet a child and you thought you were going to carry out penetrative activity with a child. That offence is too serious to suspend your sentence.”

At the time of his arrest, Cook, of Quantock Place, Peterlee, was a town councillor in Peterlee and had been elected as the town’s youngest ever mayor earlier this year. He resigned both positions after being charged.

A spokesperson for the children's charity the NSPCC said: “Fortunately, in this case Cook’s intended victim was not real, but he was fully aware of the boy’s age and groomed his young victim with the intention of sexually abusing him.

“This kind of predatory activity can ruin childhoods, with the devastating effects lasting into adulthood.

“Cook must be policed effectively on his release from prison to help reduce any risk he poses to children while it is vital that social media providers take action to keep children safe more effectively on their platforms. ”