INTERNET paedophile-hunters were criticised in court after a man was "lured" into online conversations with a vigilante purporting to be a schoolgirl.

Lonely divorcee Terrance Coleman, 62, was initially told the person behind the fake chat room profile was aged 18.

The pair exchanged sexual messages even after the 'girl' apologised for lying about her age and saying she was 15, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Rachel Masters said Coleman asked 'Jess' if she had ever kissed a boy or man, and if she would send him a photograph of her in a school uniform.

Towards the end of the pair's messaging, he said he would not meet her because she was under the 16.

After Dark Justice tipped off police and Coleman was arrested, he said it would have been difficult for him to travel because of ill-health, and the chats were fantasy and escapism.

Aisha Wadoodi, mitigating, said he takes 16 types of medication for seven or eight conditions, including angina, diabetes and fibromyalgia.

Miss Wadoodi told Judge Stephen Ashurst that the Dark Justice representative did "a lot of pushing" to arrange a meeting.

"It is important Dark Justice and any other group are not seen to direct the conversation so they are potentially trespassing into entrapment," she added.

"If we are going to have this organisation and their whole purpose is to entice people, they have to work within the proper parameters."

Coleman, of Charlbury Road, Middlesbrough, admitted attempting to communicate with a child sexually, and was given a two-year community order with 30 days of rehabilitation activity.

Judge Ashurst also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order restricting his internet and computer use, and banning him from having unsupervised contact with under-16s.

The judge told Coleman: "You were lured into going into a chat room, believing you were talking to an 18-year-old girl.

"You say to the Probation Service you made the biggest mistake in your life by responding to the messages, and it is quite clear that it started off fairly innocuously about kissing, but it did descend into more serious sexual activity.

"The progression of the talk, the introduction of more sexual chat, was the responsibility of the man from Dark Justice. More fool you for going along with it.

"You said there was no way you were going to meet someone who was under 16, you did not want to offend against the law and all the consequences that would follow from that.

"You have to face up to what you did and the serious error of judgment that you made.

"I take very much into account the public disgrace a case like this attracts, but you responded to the photograph on the profile and you have only yourself to blame."