'Wud u come back to the room with me?': Explicit chat logs show how vigilante groups caught two paedophiles in sting in Northampton

Natalie Bourne and Stephen Longhurst - who thought they were meeting a 14-year-old girl - were caught in a sting by two vigilante groups.

Stephen John Longhurst, 37, of no fixed abode, and Natalie Bourne, 30, of Stourton Road, Birmingham, spent months messaging a teenage girl named "Emily" they had met on Facebook.

They thought they had convinced the 14-year-old to meet them at Northampton train station so they could sexually abuse her in a hotel room for two days.

But when they arrived at the station on August 1, they were instead confronted by three men who asked them what they were doing in town and live-streamed their encounter.

Longhurst told the "teenager" he would book a hotel in Northampton and told her to meet them at the train station.

It was then they realised they that "Emily" did not exist, and they had in fact been explicitly chatting to vigilante group Totnes Justice who had been posing as the teenager online.

Totnes Justice has now shared dozens of the graphic chat logs with the Chronicle and Echo after the pair were jailed on Monday (October 28).

One exchange by Longhurst read: "I cud book a room in a hotel [...] when u gonna come see me? I can book it soon n wud u come back to the room with me?"

"Do u wanna stay two days with me nd a female friend?"

Longhurst first suggested abusing Emily "in the park where they had the balloon festival" before thinking of using a hotel room.

The 37-year-old - who at first told 'Emily' his name was Sean and was aged 25 - introduced Natalie Bourne into the chats, who also began messaging the teenager.

The pair told the teenager to lie to her mother and say she was staying with friends, and arranged to meet her at Northampton train station.

Totnes Justice then reached out to another vigilante group, STOP, to conduct the sting on August 1.

When they were caught, STOP reportedly find a large number of sex toys in Bourne's rucksack.

After coaxing 'Emily' to meet him in Northampton, Longhurst introduced Natalie Bourne and said she would come too.

An organiser from Totnes Justice told the Chron: "Bourne and Longhurst were two of the worst I've ever encountered in three years of running the group.

"The messages they sent and the words they used about what they hoped to do were disgusting. They dug themselves into a hole."

An organiser from STOP who encountered the pair told the Chron: "There are some people who disagree with what we do but these two people really thought they were meeting a child.

"It was clear what their intentions were. If you can provide evidence of any crime you have the power to make a citizens arrest."

Longhurst and Bourne were questioned on camera as they waited outside Northampton train station.

Bourne and Longhurst were jailed on Monday after pleading guilty to to arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a girl under 16 years of age following grooming. Longhurst also pleaded guilty to the additional offence of attempting to cause a child aged 13-15 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity.

Longhurst was jailed for six years for the offences while Bourne was jailed for three years. Both were also made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.