A pervert’s sick fantasy to have sex with an underage girl was discovered when he shared a number of sordid messages with an undercover police officer.

Daniel Merrington was caught out when he sent the sexually explicit messages to what he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.

And when the 30-year-old was arrested a search of his digital devices revealed that he had also engaged in sexual communication with a young girl, who police were unable to trace, and asked her to send inappropriate images of herself.

Teesside Crown Court heard how indecent images of children were also recovered from Merrington’s electronic devices.

Chris Baker, prosecuting, told the judge, sitting in Teesside Magistrates’ Court, how the defendant had urged an actual young girl to share graphic details of sexual acts she had engaged.

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He said that conversation came to light after he was arrested for sending sexualised messages to the undercover officer, who had made it clear they were posing as a school girl.

Merrington, of Sunnyfield Gardens, Easington, near Saltburn, pleaded guilty to three charges of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child between June and August 2021; attempt to cause / incite a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity between June and July 2021; possession of one Category B image from February 2021; and possession of three category C images from September 2015.

He also pleaded guilty to four breaches of his notification order following his admissions when he was caught using false names on dating websites.

Brian Russell, in mitigation, urged the judge to issue a suspended sentence to enable his client to engage with the probation service to reduce the likelihood of further offending after he spent four months on remand.

He added: “From his presentence report, it is clear that he has someway to go before he realises that he does have a sexual interest in children.”

Recorder Mark McKone KC sentenced Merrington to two years in custody, suspended for two years and warned the autistic defendant he would return to prison if he breached the order again.

He said: “At the heart of this case, you thought you were asking a 13-year-old girl to have sexual intercourse with you and you late gave instructions on how you would like her to carry out a sex act on herself.”

Merrington was also made subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and told to sign on sex offenders register for the same period of time.

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