A MAN who tried to buy a 12-year-old girl for sex is now facing up to 14 years in jail.

John Robson, 35, from Thorpe Crescent, Horden, County Durham, pestered a prostitute he met regularly to find him a child.

Charged with attempting to arrange the commission of a sexual offence with a girl under 13, the case against Robson had earlier been opened at Teesside Crown Court.

The jury heard how the mechanic had pestered the prostitute to find him a child.

He bombarded her with phone calls and text messages for three months, and she was so sickened that she called police.

Anna Mann, 21, told the court that she saw Robson for "business" every week for three years as he toured the red-light area in Thornaby, near Stockton.

She said: "We had sex in his car one night and he asked me if I knew any young girls working as prostitutes, and I said I thought I was the youngest girl down there.

"I asked him what type of age and he said about 12 or 13. I said I do not know any girls of that age that are working.

"He said if I could, would I phone him or text him, but then he just kept on texting me. He said that if I found a child, to ring him or text him and he would ring straight back.

"I was so disgusted that I went to the police."

She then received a text asking: "Heard owt of 12 lass, let me know" and on police instructions she texted back asking what he meant. The next day he replied: "Have you sorted a 12-year-old or any girl for me yet?'' and she told him: "No, and I've reported you to the police."

At the end of the evidence, however, and in the absence of the jury, Judge Guy Whitburn said the prosecution case was insufficient to amount to more than an act preparatory to an attempt to commit an offence.

The Crown Prosecution Service disagreed and stopped the case, asking for clarification from the Court of Appeal, which ruled the trial should continue.

In the resumed hearing yesterday, Ian West, for Robson, said: "The facts are not in dispute in the case."

He called on the jury to ask whether what Robson had done went past the "preparatory stage".

The jury took 25 minutes to convict Robson. Judge Whitburn told him: "This is a very serious offence for which the maximum penalty for the full offence is 14 years."

He remanded Robson in custody until next month for sentencing, and said: "I have to consider what steps, if any, have to be taken to protect the public from persons such as you."

Addressing the jury, he said: "This is an unusual offence in an Act which significantly widens the ambit of sexual offences, which is why we approached it with the care that we did."