Online predator Michael Hancock tried to meet a 12-year-old at the Metrocentre and told her to pose as his niece if they saw anyone they knew.
The paedophile, who has previously worked "with youths and in hospitals", thought he was talking to a real child when he sent images of his genitals and turned the conversation sexual but, fortunately, it was actually an undercover police officer.
Newcastle Crown Court the officer had set up a profile online purporting to be an 18-year-old from Tyne and Wear, with which Hancock began to communicate in October 2021. He was soon told the girl was in fact 12 and he said he was 57.
