A pervert claimed his friends had sent a string of lewd messages to a girl from his Facebook account in a "practical joke" after being caught in a paedophile hunter sting.
Robert Youds told the supposed 13-year-old she was "stunning" and asked to have a bath with her during the sickening chats. But, unbeknown to him, he was actually messaging a decoy account set up as part of an online ruse - and was ultimately dobbed in by his own mum.
Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon, Tuesday, that the 31-year-old sent a friend request to a profile set up by the Guardians of the North group, purporting be that of the youngster, in March 2018. Simon Parry, prosecuting, said that Facebook Messenger communications between them began "innocently" but "developed into overtly sexual conversation".
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Youds, of Hartington Road in West Derby, told her her pictures were "stunning for her age" and sent photographs of himself topless. He then asked if she would "like to have a bath with him" before sending images of him in bed with his penis exposed.
The paedophile "offered" to perform a sex act on the teenager and enquired whether she wanted to have intercourse with him. The hunters handed screenshots of the chat log over to Merseyside Police in February 2019, and Youds was arrested the same day.
He told officers during the raid it was "nothing to do with me, I don't even have a phone". But his mother then "identified" his iPad, which was seized and found to contain search terms which "indicated a sexual interest in children".
Mr Parry said: "Effectively, what the defendant was doing was seeking out child pornography on his return home from work. He had a clear and unhealthy sexual interest in children, and when the opportunity presented itself to engage with a child he took it."
Meanwhile, the head of his bed also matched the one seen in the pictures which had been sent to the teen. Under interview, Youds claimed "other people" were responsible for the messages.
He blamed his "unnamed friends", telling the police they had set up fake Facebook accounts in his name in the past as "practical jokes". Meanwhile, the photographs had apparently been taken from his online dating profile on Plenty of Fish.
Stella Hayden, defending, told the court her client was a "young man with significant mental health difficulties" who had recently attempted to take his own life. He has nine previous convictions for 11 offences but none for sexual offences, and has not been in trouble with the law since 2015.
Youds, who appeared via video link to HMP Liverpool, admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child. He was jailed for 27 months.
Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: "Your messages became every more sexually explicit. This girl did not exist, but plainly it was something you desired.
"You have no previous convictions for offences of this type. You plainly have significant mental health problems and there has been a very, very significant delay in this matter.
"You have not committed any further offences in the meantime. There must be a prison sentence, and only an immediate sentence is appropriate."
Youds was also handed a sexual harm prevention order and a notification requirement, both to last 10 years. Forfeiture and destruction of the seized device was ordered.
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