A MOTHER posed as her 12-year-old daughter to trap an internet pervert who was trying to arrange a meeting for sex.

The woman went along with Raymond Attwood's online chat so she could discover who he was and tell the police.

Attwood, 30, told cops after his arrest that he spent all his time looking at pornography sites and playing war games.

He was described by his lawyer as "socially isolated" and wept as he was jailed for two years at Teesside Crown Court.

The court heard how he was found with child abuse images and had a perverted fascination with girls in school uniform.

Judge Peter Armstrong praised the mother's detective skills and said she may have prevented her daughter being abused.

He also added his voice to concern about a lack of internet restrictions which the Government has pledged to tackle.

Calls have grown after the conviction of paedophile Mark Bridger for the murder of Welsh schoolgirl April Jones.

Judge Armstrong said today (June 5): "This is yet another case of Facebook being used, or abused, for sexual purposes.

"The sentence is intended to be a deterrent to you or anybody else who thinks it is acceptable to do this sort of thing."

Attwood was 28 at the time of the offences and was living alone in Saltburn, east Cleveland, the court was told.

He used the name RayAtt on Facebook and had groomed the schoolgirl over the summer of 2011, said prosecutor Rachel Masters.

The youngster "defriended" him when his messages became vulgar, but her mother spotted some of them and turned detective.

During a vile exchange, Attwood - thinking he was talking to the girl - suggested a series of sexual things he would like to do.

The judge described the earlier friendly messages as "classic grooming" and told Attwood his later postings were disgraceful.

Graham Silvester, mitigating, told the court that loner Attwood used Facebook to chat with adults as well as schoolgirls.

"He had no actual friends and no actual social life," said Mr Silvester. "He was a socially-isolated man.

"His whole life was involved in being on the computer, playing war games, watching pornography. He knew what he was doing was wrong.

"He knows how serious the situation is, and, through me, expresses his remorse to the victim in this case."

Attwood, now of Sedgemoor Road, Middlesbrough, admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

He was also put on the sex offenders' register for life, banned from working with children and had restrictions put on his computer use.

Judge Armstrong said: "It seems to me the prompt and sensible actions of the mother were commendable.

"Her quick-thinking was able to bring this defendant to book, and may well have prevented more serious activity."

Dr Jon Bird, from the National Association of People Abused in Childhood, said afterwards: "It is good to see a judgement on a child abuse case which we can thoroughly endorse.

"There have been many well-reasoned calls for stronger controls on websites being used by perverts to prepare children for abuse and this case illustrates the danger.

"If it were not for the diligent and brave actions of the mother, a dangerous crime against the child may have been committed.

"Putting the culprit behind bars will prevent him from attempting to abuse any other children for the duration."