A SINGLE dad who groomed a schoolgirl and spoke of meeting up for sex told police it was just banter and said: “I was only trying to cheer her up.”

Neil Walton, 47, exchanged explicit text messages with the 12-year-old – which, when printed out, amounted to more than 60 pages of A4 paper.

Walton was jailed for two-and-a-half years after a judge told him: “You should’ve known you were dealing with an inexperienced, naive young girl.”

The secretive contact came to light when the youngster was “grounded” and her mother confiscated her mobile phone, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Walton was arrested at his home in Carisbrooke Avenue, Middlesbrough, and his immediate reaction was: 'It's them messages, isn't it? The bitch.'.”

When quizzed, he claimed it was the girl’s idea to meet up and the explicit texts were “a bad joke to cheer her up and make her feel better”.

Prosecutor Ian West said the messages started “in an innocuous nature” but soon became sexual.

Days later they were arranging a meeting, and he was talking about having a baby with her.

Judge Howard Crowson told Walton – placed on the sex offenders’ register for life: “Some of the messages were quite overtly sexual.

“You now know the impact it has had on the girl and her family.”

In a statement, the youngster’s mother told how she and her husband find it difficult to trust her.

She said her daughter has since been in trouble with the police and at school and she has withdrawn from family and friends.

Shaun Dryden, mitigating, said Walton was immature and without friends, and described many of the messages as “infantile jokey banter”.

Mr Dryden said: “It got completely out of control and he presented a fictitious world between him and her. The whole relationship is text-based.

Mr Dryden said: "It got completely out of control and he presented a fictitious world between him and her. The whole relationship is text-based.

"The probation officer says in his report that there is a very low risk of reoffending in a sexual way. Mr Walton very much regrets what has happened."

Walton pleaded guilty to a charge of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Childrens charity, the NSPCC, said the effects had been devastating for the victim.

A spokesman said: “What Walton dismissed as ‘banter’ has actually had a devastating effect on a vulnerable schoolgirl.

“This was manipulative grooming that deliberately targeted his victim and we hope she receives all the support she needs to put this behind her.

“Children who need advice and support can contact Childline 24 hours a day in confidence on 0800 1111. Adults with concerns about children’s wellbeing can contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000.”