A paedophile attempted to groom a '13-year-old girl' by sending her pictures of his false leg.
Kevin Jones befriended two supposed teenagers on Facebook before engaging them in a series of lewd chats. But, unbeknown to him, he was actually being ensnared in a paedophile hunters' sting.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday, Thursday, that the 56-year-old communicated with two decoy accounts purporting to be girls aged 13 over the course of six weeks in August and September this year. Jones, of Martinhall Road in Fazakerley, initially approached them on the social media site before conversations progressed onto WhatsApp.
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Joanne Cronshaw, prosecuting, described how he asked one girl to supply him with pictures of herself and sent images of his face and prosthetic leg. The pervert received photographs of a fully-clothed child in return.
During their conversation, Jones told her the "age difference prevented them from speaking properly". He said she "could trust him" and asked if anyone else had access to her messages as he "didn't know if others would understand".
The three-time convicted paedophile asked "if she liked older men" and if she had "had sex education in school" while "constantly referring to her as a nice girl". Jones "suggested he could not talk to her because he wanted to talk about adult things" and told her he had been masturbating.
He talked about pornography and told her how to access it, asking her to describe what she had seen once she had done so. The messaging then moved to WhatsApp and "became more graphic".
Jones, who appeared via video link to HMP Altcourse, told the teen "how to masturbate a man" and "instructed her how to masturbate". He asked her to send pictures of herself doing this and to phone him while doing so.
In September, he began communicating with a second decoy account after sending the so-called girl a friend request on Facebook. When they began chatting on WhatsApp, Jones told her she was a "nice girl" and that he had been masturbating.
He was previously subjected to 10-year sexual harm prevention order in October 2015 at the same court as he was jailed for a year for attempting to meet a child after grooming. This prevented him from using the internet to contact children.
But Jones was then locked up for another 10 months in May 2019 for breaching his SHPO and two counts of attempting sexual communications with a child. Ms Cronshaw described his actions as a "serious, determined and persistent breach".
Under interview after his arrest, the defendant "denied getting sexual gratification" from speaking to girls online and said he "didn't believe the conversations were sexual in nature". Jones - who has a total of four convictions for six offences - added that he had begun speaking to the second youngster because she "had animals on her profile and he likes animals".
Natalia Cornwall, defending, told the court: "Clearly these offences are aggravated by the defendant's previous convictions. He knows that the sentence he is going to face are going to increase if he continues in this way.
"He accepts he needs help. He is ashamed of his behaviour, and he has expressed that he is very sorry."
Jones admitted two counts of attempting sexual communications with a child, attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and two charges of breaching a sexual harm prevention order. He was imprisoned for four years and given an additional two years on licence.
Sentencing, Judge Garrett Byrne said: "This was grooming behaviour. It was serious, it was persistent.
"You have demonstrated an entrenched pattern of sexual of offending against children despite restrictions imposed upon you. You have demonstrated manipulative and predatory behaviour.
"You appear to normalise your behaviour. You do represent a high risk of committing sexual contact offences."
Jones was given a new indefinite SHPO and told to sign the sex offenders' register for life. He was also told to pay a victim surcharge.
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