Overview
- Judge Tina Landale sentenced Karl Cliff to three years at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.
- He believed he was communicating with a 14-year-old on a dating app, though the account was an adult decoy using older images with consent.
- Prosecutors said the chats turned sexual, moved to WhatsApp, and included an invitation to stay at his home after he provided his address.
- He suggested switching to Kik, telling the supposed child he would show her something to make her a woman, before a vigilante group arrived and police intervened.
- The defence cited no prior convictions and personal pressures, and the court was told he has since lost his engineering job.