A MAN in his sixties engaged in increasingly sexualised online conversation with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl, a court heard.

But, instead of chatting, to ‘Katie’, his co-correspondent was, in reality, a police officer monitoring the internet.

Durham Crown Court heard that the 66-year-old was arrested shortly after making arrangements to travel from his Teesside home to meet ‘Katie’, in Kendal, Cumbria, last February.

Ian Mullarkey, prosecuting, said police set up the false profile of ‘Katie’, a young female from Kendal, on a chat site restricted to 18-year-olds and above.

Posing as ‘James59’, but otherwise using his correct details and accurate pictures, Scott contacted Katie, on February 11.

Mr Mullarkey said: “He engaged in a number of discussions and, early on, the defendant instigated sexual conversation.”

Despite being told she was only 14, Scott asked if she had experimented sexually, inviting her to perform a sex act on herself.

Scott said he would come to Kendal, “for a proper date”, and asked her to wear a school blouse, telling her to look out for a metallic red Jaguar car.

But the meeting never took place and when he was arrested, days later, Scott told police he believed he was engaging in “fantasy chat” with an older woman pretending to be a school girl.

He said he went on to that site to meet older women as it was for 18s and over, and never had any intention of travelling to Kendal, as it was all part of the “role play”.

But, at a recent hearing, the now 67-year-old, of Camsell Court, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

Mark Styles, mitigating, told the court: “He’s very highly spoken of, but the stigma of this has brought him very low indeed.

“He’s found the isolation difficult, living alone from the family home he shared with his wife for many years.

“He’s determined, however, to confront the problem, and is undergoing a course of psychotherapy.

“It’s clearly abhorrent behaviour that he can’t put right.

“It’s his first error in an otherwise blame-free background."

Jailing him for six months, Judge Christopher Prince told Scott: “You accept you were engaging in sexual fantasies with a 14-year-old.

“You were ratcheting up the sexual discussions.

“I’m urged to suspend the sentence, but I’m not willing to do so.

“It’s important such offending is marked with an immediate custodial sentence to send out the message to other men that they must not engage in activity of this type.”

Scott was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order, “until further order”, and must also sign the Sex Offender Register for seven years.