A 51-year-old man has been jailed for arranging to meet an underage girl for sex.

David Metcalfe was confronted by paedophile hunters outside a railway station in St Albans, where he believed he was meeting a 13-year-old girl called Lizzie White.

But St Albans Crown Court was told on October 6 that he was the target of a sting operation and that Lizzie did not exist.

Paedophile hunters Katie Sear and Neil Ivall, who operate under the name Chris Fear, filmed him outside St Albans City station and called the police.

Metcalfe, who is originally from Newcastle, pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming between 6 June 2015 and 2 August 2015. He also pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming between 10 September 2015 and 13 September 2015.

Metcalfe was jailed for two and a half years and must register as a sex offender and abide by the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the next 10 years.