A PERVERT caught a second time trying to groom schoolgirls on the internet is back behind bars.

The latest sting which 33-year-old Michael Butler fell for was staged by online paedophile hunters known as Dark Justice.

Three years earlier, he tried to meet 11-year-olds for sex - only to find he had actually been talking dirty to undercover police.

Butler was jailed at Burnley Crown Court in 2014 for exposing himself over a webcam and arranging a meeting in Blackpool.

Earlier this year, he communicated with a member of Dark Justice, thinking he was talking to a 13-year-old on an internet chat room, Chat Avenue.

Butler, from Redcar, asked the ‘girl’ to meet him at Newcastle train station last month, Teesside Crown Court heard.

When arrested, it emerged he had repeatedly flouted court orders designed to curb his risk to children.

He had unlawful contact with the children of a man he befriended, and was using the alias of Michael Smith, the court heard.

Prosecutor Harry Hadfield said he also deleted his internet search history and used the internet without telling police.

Butler - described as a fantasist at his case three years ago - was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

He was locked up for 16 months at the earlier hearing, but his barrister Paul Cleasby said the sentence was not long enough for him to get treatment behind bars.

Judge Peter Armstrong, who described Butler as high-risk, told him today: “You have a distorted view as far as children are concerned.

“The motive behind these breaches was so you could pursue your sexual interest in children.

“Happily, there was no physical contact of a sexual nature. You still pose a danger to young children.”

Mr Cleasby said: “It is to be hoped that during this new and longer sentence, there will be sufficient time for this defendant to work with the authorities to minimise the risk he appears to pose.”

Butler, of Queen Street, Redcar, admitted attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, failing to comply with notification requirements, and three charges of breaching a sexual offences prevention order.