A PERVERT who sent a ‘teenage girl’ a video of himself performing a sex act has avoided being sent to prison.

Gary Bushnall contacted the teenager called Amber without realising she was in fact a decoy working with the online paedophile hunter group Confronted and Caught.

The 48-year-old struck up highly-sexualised conversation despite the decoy telling him he was talking to a 13-year-old on May 1 last year.

Teesside Crown Court heard how members of the group turned up Bushnall’s home to confront him and live-streamed it onto their Facebook page.

Jenny Haigh, prosecuting, said Bushnall was arrested when police arrived and made full admissions in interview.

She said: “Amber asked how old the defendant was, he said he was 35, that’s not true, he is 48. She told him she was 13 and from Manchester.

“Bushnall asked Amber if she would like a picture and he sent her a picture of himself naked in the bath with his hand over his genitals. He then sent her a picture of his genitals.”

Miss Haigh said Bushnall asked her to send pictures of herself in underwear or naked but she ignored his request.

The court heard how on May 5 he sent the ‘teenager’ a video of himself performing a sex act.

Following his arrest, Bushnall admitted knowing the age of the decoy and accepted that he had requested sexual pictures of the ‘teenager’.

Miss Haigh added: "He admitted that he asked her to perform a sex act on herself but said it was a mistake and every time he sent a picture he regretted it."

Bushnall, of Russell Street, Stockton, pleaded guilty to two charges of cause/incite a girl to engage in sex act and one of attempt to cause a child to watch a sex act.

In mitigation, his counsel John Turner said his client had admitted the charges at the earliest opportunity and said it was his first offence of this kind.

Judge Deborah Sherwin sentenced Bushnall to four months in custody, suspended for two years.

She said: “Were you ever to repeat this conduct or do something like contact and meet a child, make no mistake, you will be jailed for it.

"If you comply with everything the probation service ask and commit no further offences in the next two years, you won’t have to go to prison but if you do commit other offences or don’t comply with probation you will likely go to jail.”

The judge told Bushnall that she believed he would get better supervision and assistance in the community by working with the probation service than serving a short prison sentence.

Bushnall was also ordered to carry out 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days to address his offending as well being issued with a seven-year sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for the same period of time.