Man, 40, flirted with teenage girls on the internet

Michael Carter, 40, engaged in conversations with girls as young as 13 and 14 in chatrooms and via Skype, Welshpool Magistrates Court heard.

He sent and received pictures, many of which were pornographic, the court was told.

Carter had admitted a charge of inciting a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity on January 5 at a previous hearing, but appeared at the court via videolink from Taunton Magistrates Court for sentencing. He also admitted possessing 16 Category C images of children on January 6.

He was given a three-year community order by magistrates, with a supervision requirement, a sex offenders' treatment programme and 100 hours unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £85 costs, a £60 victim surcharge and had to sign a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

Mrs Helen Tench, prosecuting, said Dyfed-Powys Police was made aware that Carter had been chatting to underage girls in the area via the internet.

She said: "The force received information that Carter was active in chatrooms and was engaging in conversations with underage girls.

"Officers were sent to his address and seized laptops, a hard drive and mobile phone which were sent away for examination.

"When they were looked at, indecent images were found featuring girls as young as eight."

Mrs Tench said officers found that Skype had also been installed on one of the computers and evidence of conversations with underage girls as young as 13 and 14 had been found.

Carter of Dunster, near Minehead, Somerset, had also used the internet to search for terms which he hoped would lead to pictures of underage girls.

Carter, for himself, said he is "deeply ashamed" of what he has done.

He added: "I am ashamed of everything. My behaviour was awful, I can't blame anybody but myself. I was not in a good place mentally at the time and this incident has really made me reflect on my life.

"I now want to draw a line under it and I am going look at re-building my life now."