A pervert who turned up with the hope of meeting a teenage girl for sex was shocked to find a police officer waiting for him.
Marc Oakley asked the decoy 14-year-old to send photographs of themselves after he posted a shirtless picture of himself on WhatsApp.
Teesside Crown Court heard how the 44-year-old unwittingly made initial contact with the undercover police officer on the whisper social media app.
Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, said the defendant was made aware of the girl’s age from the outset and told the decoy they could get into trouble for his online behaviour.
He said: “He said to her that he was probably older than her dad and she was getting him into a lot of trouble.”
The court heard how the conversation turned sexual and the defendant arranged to meet up the teenager at the Dalton Park shopping outlet in County Durham.
Mr Gittins said the defendant was arrested when he turned up to meet the girl and destroyed his mobile phone.
Oakley, of no fixed abode but formerly from the Seaham area, pleaded guilty to attempting to facilitate commission of offence of sexual activity with child and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child in April 2024.
Joe Culley, mitigating, said his client had lost his relationship and access to his children as a result of his conviction.
Judge Jonathan Carroll sentenced Oakley to two years in custody suspended for 18 months.
“There clearly is some element of distorted thinking, dangerous thinking, child sex thinking which has put you in this position.
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“Without doubt, the custody threshold has been crossed and the public would be outraged if you didn’t have a prison sentence hanging over your head,” he said.
“Your stupidity has caused your life to fall apart. You are separated from your partner and children – I understand why that is necessary, but I accept it has devastating consequences for you.”
Oakley was ordered to attend 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days, carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and subjected to a three-month curfew between 7pm and 7am.
He 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.
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