A pervert was snared by his neighbour after she saw a Facebook appeal to find him by paedophile hunters.
Paul Graham had used two different profiles online to send graphic messages to a fake schoolgirl's account, which had been set up by vigilantes.
The 39-year-old said he would travel to the teen's home to have sex and that she should wait until her mum had gone out so they could meet.
Read more: Pervert had indecent images of babies and intoxicated children being abused
When she said she was too young, Graham reassured her "I won't say anything if you won't."
Newcastle Crown Court heard the Child Online Safety Team group, who were behind the 14-year-old's account, put out a public appeal on Facebook to find out Graham's full identity and uploaded a picture from his profile.
A neighbour who saw the appeal alerted Graham's partner, who then contacted the group.
Prosecutor Omar Ahmad told the court: "He had uploaded a profile picture and a member of the group uploaded that photograph to a Facebook page and asked if anyone could identify him.
"The defendant's neighbour came across the post and informed the defendant's partner, who in turn contacted the group."
The court heard when confronted by the group, Graham admitted he was the user of the two profiles and they informed the police, who arrested him.
Graham, of Lumley Gardens, Burnopfield, County Durham, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child between April 20 and May 1 last year.
Recorder Simon Kealey QC sentenced Graham to a community order for 30 months with rehabilitation and sex offender treatment programme requirements.
Graham must sign the sex offenders register and abide by a sexual harm prevention order for five years.
The judge told him: "You used two profiles to contact what you believed to be a 14-year-old girl. It was, in fact, a decoy profile run by a member of a volunteer group.
"The chats continued for a period of eight days."
The judge said Graham's messages "very quickly became sexually explicit" and told him: "When you uploaded a photograph to your profile it was used by the volunteer group to identify you."
The court heard Graham, who has no previous convictions, had already deleted the social media app before he was tracked down and confronted.
Gavin Doig, defending, said: "He voluntarily desisted from contact."
Mr Doig said Graham had been experiencing difficulties in his relationship at the time of the offence and recognises he behaved in an "appalling manner".
He added: "It was a serious but isolated incident."
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