A COUPLE set up a ‘disgusting vigilante attack’ on a man they suspected of being a paedophile.

Stephen Holmes, 23, along with 21-year-old Sophie Cooke, lured the victim to a house in Elgin Crescent, Burnley, on March 7, where the brutal assault took place.

The court was told Cooke suspected the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, of being a paedophile.

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However, police enquiries found no evidence of this.

Burnley Crown Court heard Cooke texts to Holmes, at that time her boyfriend, to set up the attack.

Once the victim arrived he was taken to a bedroom by two men, pinned to the floor, punched and kicked, and an attempt was made to gag him. The man’s trousers and underwear were pulled down and a ‘sharp object’ shoved into his backside by an unnamed man.

The court was told although Holmes was not the primary perpetrator, he took part in the attack.

Holmes, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit GBH and theft of a mobile phone.

He was jailed for 17 months.

Cooke, of Hawarden Street, Nelson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit GBH. She was sentenced to eight months suspended for a year.