AN “immature” man with learning difficulties has avoided jail after being caught trying to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex.

Daniel Moore thought he was chatting to a teenage girl called Chloe but he was actually talking to a member of a paedophile hunting group based in Devon.

Durham Crown Court heard that the 20-year-old, who was living in Consett, in County Durham, at the time, exchanged messages with the fake Facebook profile over a number of days between September 18 and 24.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to meet a girl aged under the age of 16, following grooming.

Andrew Finlay, prosecuting, said that during the course of the conversation, he talked about hugging and kissing the girl, sharing a bed with her and whether her parents would catch them.

He also asked her whether she was ready to have sex and whether she would be getting pregnant.

Andrew Finlay told the court that Moore had initially arranged to meet her in Newcastle but was unable to make it, and made a second attempt to meet her at Consett bus station, telling her that they could have sex in some bushes in the town.

The Devon group then passed information to members of the Guardians of the North, a similar group based in the North-East, who went to Consett bus station to accost Moore.

When police arrived to arrest the defendant, he initially told them that he had gone to Consett to meet friends at the pub but later admitted that he had made an arrangement to meet with “Chloe”.

Mr Finlay said: “He said he would not have had sex with her and said it was stupid and what he had done was wrong.”

The court heard that Moore, of Mackley Court East, Benton Rise, Wallsend, was given a caution in January 2016 for using Facebook to engage in sexual chats with a 12-year-old girl.

Susan Hirst, mitigating, said that Moore had a number of personal problems and added that he had not succeeded in meeting a child.

Judge Christopher Prince gave Moore a 16 month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years.

Judge Prince said: “It’s extremely important to understand that many people who engage in activity like this are sent to prison.

“Your case is unusual in that you are an immature and you prefer the company of children to that of adults.

“You have a learning difficulty and have been bullied, you are socially isolated and do not have sexual experience.

“What I have to do is decide what is the best way of protecting the public. I think the best way of achieving that is a suspended sentence.”

Instead he will have to take part in a rehabilitation programme to address his offending.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offenders’ register for ten years.