A PAEDOPHILE who groomed a schoolgirl after learning she had been targeted by another sex offender has been locked up yesterday.

Geoffrey Cooper, 45, persuaded the teenager to take and send explicit photographs of herself, Teesside Crown Court was told.

The pervert also sent the youngster suggestive messages and indecent pictures of himself during a two-week period in March.

Prosecutor Rosalind Scott Bell told the court he sent daily messages on a chat stream - many of which she said were “very graphic”.

The court heard that contact between the pair ended when the victim sent Cooper a message, begging him to leave her alone.

She stated: “I hate what you have turned me into.”

Her father said that since the investigation, her personality has gone from “bubbly and happy” to emotional and guilt-ridden.

“She becomes upset very easily and often burst into tears," said Mrs Scott Bell. "She has also self-harmed.”

Cooper began his own pursuit of the girl after learning she had been exchanging messages with another man, Ethan Jones.

Jones was locked up for three years in September after he admitted charges of meeting a child following sexual grooming.

The devious 23-year-old moved from Manchester to North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, to be nearer the girl, the court heard.

Graham Brown, mitigating, said Cooper feels “overwhelming remorse” but there was no physical contact between Cooper and the girl.

Cooper, of Gifford Street, Middlesbrough, admitted three charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

He also pleaded guilty two charges of causing or inciting child pornography, and possessing indecent photographs of a child.

He was jailed for two years and eight months and given banned from having unsupervised contact with girls under 16.

Judge Deborah Sherwin also ordered him to sign on the sex offenders’ register for life, and imposed restrictions on his internet use.