A man asked a ‘12-year-old girl' if she wanted to have sexual intercourse with him after contacting her on Snapchat.

Conor Sheader was actually sending the inappropriate messages to an account being operated by an undercover police officer.

The 27-year-old was spared prison by a judge, who said it was in the public interest that the defendant could be rehabilitated.

At the Bournemouth Crown Court hearing, Judge Robert Pawson said: “The fact is that you have over the course of about at least nine years shown a sexual interest in children and the evidence for that is your guilty plea to 32 category C images over the period of about seven years from 2012.”

The judge said the defendant “upped the ante” in 2021 when he asked what he believed was a girl if she wanted to have sexual intercourse with him.

Prosecuting, Stuart Ellacott said police became aware of the defendant because he was in contact with an undercover officer who was operating a Snapchat profile purporting to be a 12-year-old female.

Mr Ellacott said Sheader contacted the profile on Snapchat and sent an initial message saying “you’re gorgeous”.

The conversation turned to the undercover officer asking how old the defendant was. He said he was 20 when he was in fact 25 at the time, while the ‘girl’ said she was 12.

The court heard the defendant sent three emojis in effect saying ‘shush’ before later sending a lewd message about his genitalia.

“He asked for some pictures of her and tried to call her,” Mr Ellacott said.

The interaction took place over two spells on the same day in May 2021 with the ‘girl’ at one point stating she was at school.

An IP address was tracked to the address of the defendant’s partner. When police attended, she said he had moved to a different area, but she was able to identify clothing and bedding in a photograph he had sent to the ‘child’ on Snapchat.

Officers were given the defendant’s new address and when he was located he was arrested, with various electronic items seized.

Analysis of a hard drive found 32 category C indecent images of children which had been saved onto the device between May 2012 and September 2019.

The court heard these images contained girls aged between 6 and 12.

Sheader, of Mansfield Road, Poole, pleaded guilty to charges of making indecent photographs of a child and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child when he appeared before Poole Magistrates’ Court.

He had previous criminal matters recorded against him but none related to indecent images or sexual offences.

The judge said he had taken into account the defendant's mental health issues when determining the sentence.

Judge Pawson sentenced the defendant to 10 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

The sentence included requirements to complete the accredited Horizon programme, up to 15 rehabilitation activity days and 200 hours of unpaid work.

“I am giving you a chance Mr Sheader because it is very much in the public interest that you could be rehabilitated,” Judge Pawson said.

Sheader was made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offenders register for the same duration.