A GRANDFATHER who sent sexually explicit messages to someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl has walked free from court.

Wallace Jukes was given a two-year community order and put on a sex offender treatment programme.

The 70-year-old, of Oakland Avenue, Hartlepool, was also put on the sex offenders’ register for five years and ordered to pay £635 costs.

He pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child at Teesside Crown Court.

Over five days, he repeatedly messaged someone who had set up a fake social media account in the name of Rach and used a picture of a teenager.

Jukes – who was said to have worked in local industry until his retirement at 50 and then as a charity volunteer for 11 years – demanded naked pictures.

Prosecutor Harry Hadfield said the father-of-two also suggested a meeting with the ‘girl’ at various locations around Hartlepool.

In one message, he simply wrote: “Pics, pics, pics.”

His barrister, Paul Cleasby, said: “He has suffered a spectacular fall from grace. He concedes he has brought this upon himself, and brought anguish to his family that is undeserved.

"He had to admit to his wife children what he had done and one can only imagine the humiliation that type of conversation would bring.”

Judge Howard Crowson told Jukes: “At times, your language was relatively pressing in your attempts to get your way.

“Ultimately, you stopped and you didn’t go to the rendezvous. By that stage, you had decided to stop what was for you outrageous behaviour.”