A FORMER Stourbridge man who has become a self-styled paedophile hunter and film-maker has spoken of his delight at the jail term meted out to his latest catch.

Pervez Akhtar, aged 57, from Lye, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after he was caught in a sting by documentary maker Stinson Hunter while trying to meet a 13-year-old girl for sexual activity after grooming her on the internet.

Stinson, a 33-year-old ex -con - formerly known as Kieren Parsons, began his quest to pursue people believed to be paedophiles while living in Stourbridge in 2012.

He said he felt he could do something to help in the fight against child abusers - and he set about finding ways to snare suspects using the internet.

Since then he reckons he's helped the law to catch up with 25 sex offenders - and he's become something of a reality TV hero after his vigilante antics were revealed in Channel 4 documentary, The Paedophile Hunter, last autumn.

His tactics have divided opinion with many arguing that catching crooks should be left to the police, while others have welcomed his unorthodox approach to exposing predators.

Stinson himself says he's not a vigilante - and he told the News: "I'm just a normal guy that realised there was something going on and I made a decision to put everything into it.

"I don't take the law into my own hands - I hand it into the police. I'm just somebody that raises awareness."

Stinson said he's "pleased and glad it's over with" following the sentencing of Akhtar from Church Road, at Warwick Crown Court on Tuesday, whom he exposed after setting up a fake online chat room profile by the name of Jodie which he used to lure the married father-of-six to a meeting in June 2013.

During the confrontation, Stinson leaped onto the bonnet of Akhtar's car and was flung to the floor - suffering broken bones in his foot as a result - so the punishment also took into account a charge of careless driving and included a three-year driving ban and an order to register as a sex offender for ten years.

Stinson, from Nuneaton, said the high-risk snare operation left him in intensive care and he's "still suffering" from the injuries sustained but he boldly added: "I'd do it again.

"I injured myself when I used to get drunk - at least I'm injuring myself for positive reasons now; I turn everything into a positive now; that hit and run made me do that."

Stinson, a father-of-one, said he's also been hurt with an iron bar when confronting offenders and he says his dedication to his work has cost him his relationship but he can't give it up.

He believes the police are hampered in their efforts to catch more sex offenders by red tape and falling budgets and he feels the politicians need to do more. He said: "It's an issue of pandemic proportions. I'm just scraping the surface."