Description
A paedophile told a supposed teenage girl: "I want to be the man who teaches you everything you need to know about sex."
James Smith, 44, who even called himself a "nonce pedo" online, targeted underage girls on chat forums.
Smith thought he was talking to a 14-year-old child called 'Darcie' when he discussed performing a sex act on her.
The predator sent her a photo of his penis and joked that what he was doing was "classed as grooming a minor LOL".
But he was actually talking to a decoy profile, set up by paedophile hunter group Children Online Battling Real Abuse (Cobra).
The pervert is today starting a prison sentence after it emerged he had also chatted to another COBRA decoy, 13-year-old 'Bekki'.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Smith, of Halliday Close, Birchwood, Warrington, started talking with Bekki on the chat platform SayHi last June.
Smith, whose profile featured a picture of a dog but also a second image showing a naked torso, had a bio saying he was a "nonce/pedo".
He asked Bekki "hey sexy girl, how are you?" before asking how old she was, when she explained she was 13.
Natalia Cornwall, prosecuting, said Smith told her he was a sex offender who had been convicted for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, which the court heard isn't in fact true.
The conversation moved to WhatsApp and they continued talking about general topics until August, when Smith's messages turned sexual and he told Bekki he had been drinking and doing "silly things" like trying on knickers, tights and miniskirts.
Ms Cornwall said he went on to say he loved girls' underwear and if she was in her underwear, he'd "well look".
Smith told Bekki that he loved to perform a certain sex act and if they met, he would like to touch her, before claiming his real name was John.
The court heard Smith carried on talking with Bekki until October, but no arrangements were ever made to meet her, despite her asking in September how they would meet if she didn't know where he lived, and him replying that he would always meet in a public place.
However, in September he started talking with Darcie on the app Jaumo, who told him she was 14 after he messaged saying she was "sexy", using the name John McGee.
Despite knowing of her apparent age, he said she was "hot" and in one message talked about her "staying the night" with him at his address.
He made the comment about teaching her about sex, talked about performing a sex act on her, sent the naked photo, and joked about grooming.
Ms Cornwall said Smith suggested meeting Darcie on more than one occasion, saying that she could meet him in Warrington in late October, only for him to then go quiet online.
On November 5 he made arrangements to meet Darcie at Manchester Oxford Road station and told her what train he was getting and that he would text before he arrived, but he didn't in fact travel.
Smith then disclosed his address to an adult decoy, before Cobra went to his home and confronted him about the vile chats on November 11, which they live streamed on Facebook.
The group also contacted police, who arrested the pervert.
When interviewed, he told officers he knew the accounts were decoys set up by paedophile hunters and that he only engaged with them to get "cheap thrills".
Smith later admitted attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
Philip Tully, defending, said his client didn't have any previous convictions, but accepted he had a caution for sexual assault in 2005.
He said Smith recalled this involved him trying to "console" a 15-year-old girl by hugging her and giving her a peck on the head and there wasn't any sexual motivation behind it.
Urging the judge to spare him jail, Mr Tully said Smith had a good work record and had shown "genuine remorse" and insight into his offending.
He said: "Shortly before the commission of these offences, he had to deal with the very difficult time in his life of the death of his father, someone who he cared for. That seems to have had a profound effect upon him.
"He's not someone in the best of health - diagnosed with COPD and also a skin disorder."
Mr Tully said Smith had been "absolutely frank" with the author of a pre-sentence report about why he committed the offences and was open to help from the Probation Service, which he argued Smith - who had already spent three months in custody - wouldn't receive if he was sent to prison.
The judge, Recorder Rick Pratt, QC, said Smith took steps which were "more than merely preparatory".
He said: "Whatever the truth of the matter was, you believed you were communicating with young children, and children who were significantly below the age where they could properly make sexual decisions for themselves, and you preyed on what you believed to be that innocence."
The judge said the offences involving Darcie were more serious and said: "Your conversations with her demonstrated in my view a clear intention of what you had in mind."
Describing what Smith had said about wanting to teach Darcie about sex, the judge added: "It also included - perhaps somewhat sinisterly - the phrase that what you were doing 'would be classed as grooming a minor LOL'."
Recorder Pratt said he was satisfied Smith had intended to take part in penetrative sexual activity with Darcie.
The judge said he took into account Smith's mitigation, and "most importantly that no child was actually involved".
He said: "That does provide some mitigation because the case doesn't involve actual harm to a child here.
"Nevertheless, I have to balance that against your very clear intention."
Giving him 25% credit for his guilty pleas at a plea hearing, the judge jailed Smith for two years and three months.
He told him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and said he must comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely.