A retired civil servant who attempted to groom two teenage girls over the internet following the death of his wife has walked free from court.

Michael Franklin sent a number of vile messages to two paedophile hunter decoys in the belief that he was talking to a pair of 13-year-old girls.

The 76-year-old was arrested after he was confronted by members of the vigilante group and the police were alerted to his illicit online activities.

Teesside Crown Court heard how a search of his digital devices revealed he had downloaded a sickening child abuse video and extreme pornographic material involving animals.

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Jon Harley, prosecuting, outlined the sexual nature of the messages the defendant sent to the two decoys despite being told that they were only 13 years old.

He said the defendant encouraged them to perform sex acts on themselves while giving extremely graphic details of what he wanted them to do.

Franklin, of Oakland Terrace, Darlington, pleaded guilty to attempting to cause/incite a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity; to charges of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child; making a Category A indecent image of a child; and possession of extreme pornography, following his arrest on August 8, 2020.

Michele Turner, mitigating, said her client’s offending can be traced back to the death of his wife and the resulting ‘loneliness and isolation’ he suffered.

She said Franklin had led a blame-free life and had an unblemished record while working as a civil servant.

“The start appears to be the death of his wife, he had cared for her throughout her illness until she died,” she added.

“He found himself in a rabbit hole, although he was aware that it was wrong, he found the draw irresistible.

“The offences were brought about by his loneliness and his isolation.”

Judge Chris Smith told the Darlington pervert he believed he would receive better support to address his deviant behaviour outside the prison setting after he sent vile sexual messages to the 'teenagers'.

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“You were downloading child abuse videos of the most vile kind,” he said. “These children are being sexually abused in these videos, clearly caught on camera, and being downloaded by you only goes to fuel the illegal market for children to be abused.”

Franklin was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for 18 months and ordered to attend 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

The judge added: “You have come very close, were it not for work you have done with the probation service and can continue to do with them, you would have gone to prison whether you were 76 or not.”

The defendant was also made subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and told to sign on the sex offenders’ register for the same period of time.