A FATHER who sent sexually explicit messages and arranged to take a teenage girl's virginity was caught by online paedophile hunters.

Video footage filmed by the group – called Dark Justice – captured Mark Thornton sitting in his car waiting for the supposed 13-year-old girl in July this year.

The 50-year-old, from Darlington, can be heard denying knowing the girl was underage, maintaining that he believed that she was 16-years-old and denied sending the teenager a picture of a penis.

The sexual deviant was captured after chatting with two different online profiles the group had set up pretending to be teenage girls, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Among the perverted messages sent by Thornton were requests for risque pictures – and he also asked one girl if she was "excited" about losing her virginity with him.

Thornton also boasted about how he had already had sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Paul Abrahams, prosecuting, said the defendant started chatting to a social media profile with the name Jessie Amy Thompson in July of this year and soon turned the conversation sexual.

Mr Abrahams said: "She said she was 13-years-of-age. That was made quite clear in the conversation. He used what we would call in global terms, grooming.

"He was asking her to commit penetrative sexual acts."

He asked her to meet up but no such meeting materialised.

Later the same month, Thornton struck up a conversation with a profile under the name ToonLass13 on the social media site Kik and was again told her age.

Mr Abrahams added: "She indicated immediately that she was 13 and called Amy. He told her he had previously had sex with a 15-year-old but she would have been the youngest.

"He exchanged pictures of his penis and asked for pictures of her but she said she had none."

Thornton then asked: "Are you looking forward to losing your virginity babe?"

The following day, the pervert was filmed by Dark Justice sitting in his car in an Asda car park waiting for the teenager to arrive. He was later arrested by police.

In mitigation, Christopher Baker said his client could not explain his behaviour.

He said: "This defendant has failed to give a true explanation to why he went about this.

"But the reality is that these offences occurred when things in his life were going badly with his partner and his 26-year-old son who has various difficulties.

"That is some explanation for this kind of behaviour.

"But he accepts that people do this sort of thing because they have a sexual interest in children.

"He has lost his partner, the majority of his friends and his good name.

"Although this defendant was oblivious to this, there was no actual risk of harm to any child."

The judge, Recorder Richard Wright, QC, told Thornton he had sexual conversations with the supposed girls believing they were 13.

He said: "It is clear to me that you have little to no insight into your offending so you pose a risk to children.

"You have a sexual interest in children and this is deeply concerning.

"In fact no children were exposed to your behaviour but you did not know that so I am sentencing you essentially on what was in your mind and what you would have done had you been able to get your hands on a child.

"You chose to offend in this way. Losing your partner, friends and family is entirely your own fault."

At an earlier hearing, Thornton, of Montrose Street, admitted two charges of attempting to incite a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity, one charge of attempting to meet a child under 16 and one charge of attempting to meet a child under the age of 16 for the purpose of sexual activity.

He was sentenced two years in prison and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for ten years.