A MAN snared in an vigilante sting streamed live on the internet has walked free from court.

Paul Anthony Drake, 53, arranged to meet someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl called Clare with the intention of having sex with her, Martin Sharpe, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

But “Clare” was actually an adult member of an internet predator hunter group.

When he went to Scarborough Railway Station with a bouquet of “Clare’s” favourite flowers and her favourite food, three group members confronted him and harangued him live on Facebook while they waited for police to arrive.

Drake’s solicitor advocate David Camidge said: “He has undergone one of the most spectacular falls from grace one can imagine.”

Drake’s charity work had earned him the privilege of carrying the Olympic Torch in 2012 and he was well-known in the Scarborough area.

But after the Facebook screening, which had also been uploaded to YouTube, he had lost his job and become socially isolated.

Drake, of Milton Avenue, Scarborough, pleaded guilty to attempting to have sexual communication with a child, attempted inciting of a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to meet a child after grooming.

He was given a four-month prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does a 33-day sex offender treatment programme. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order curbing his use of the internet and access to under-age girls and put on the sex offenders’ register, both for ten years.

Judge Andrew Stubbs QC told Drake that had a real child been involved, he would have gone to prison for years. He had also lost his wife and possibly his house and been publicly humiliated.

He said: "There would be a large section of the public would think it serves you right and that those who set you up were protecting others from what you intended to do."