Luke Ayling 33

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A man who sent sexual images and videos to a 12-year-old girl has avoided prison.

Luke Ayling, 33, of Oakhill Road in Sutton, spent two months sending sexual messages to a Facebook account he believed to be a young girl.

But the former chef, now unemployed, got a shock when he found out he was actually messaging a decoy account designed to catch paedophiles.

Ayling appeared at Croydon Crown Court for sentencing on Friday after he pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.

Prosecutor Michael Chambers said Ayling began messaging the account in May 2021.

When the operator of the decoy account said they were 12 he replied “too young”, before sending a number of sexual photos and videos of himself.

Ayling made arrangements to meet the child on three occasions but never showed up.

Ruth Zentler-Munro, defending, said her client was in a state of poor mental health at the time of the offending.

She said Ayling has since addressed his substance abuse problem which exacerbated his mental health problems and has not offended in the four years since.

Recorder Samantha Presland, sentencing, said: “Mr Ayling, I appreciate you were in a very bad place at the time you fell down this rabbit hole, but if this had been an actual child the ramifications would have been lifelong for them.”

Ayling was given a 16 month sentence, suspended for 20 months.

He will have to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and a number of rehabilitation days.