A YOUNG man who went online to exchange lurid sexual banter with a 13-year-old girl was actually communicating with an under-cover police officer, a court heard.

During the conversations, Michael Edward Roiston Chapman, 22, tried to persuade the girl and later a 15-year-old girl from the Phillipines to engage in sexual activity.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Chapman, of Troutbeck, on the A5091, was put on the Sex Offenders Register for a decade after he admitted five related child sex offences.

Tim Evans, prosecuting, described how Chapman committed the first four offences in July, when he made contact with what he though was a 13-year-old girl over the internet.

The "user names" he chose were blatantly sexual, and gave a clear indication of his intentions, said the barrister.

In his initial messages, Chapman claimed that he was aged 17 and when the girl he thought he was communicating with said she would like to talk to somebody more mature he admitted his real age.

"Almost from the outset, the conversation became sexualised," said Mr Evans.

Chapman asked the girl if they could go somewhere, and whether she was interested in sex.

In the final communication, Chapman again engaged the girl in a discussion about whether they could have sex. Part of the conversations included the girl saying she was at school.

When police raided the defendant's home, and searched his internet devices, they found evidence he had been communicated online with a 15-year-old girl from the Phillipines.

The girl's age was made plain by her date of birth, which was included in her online profile.

He admitted distributing and making indecent images of children; inciting a child to engage in sexual activity; attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child; sexually communicating with a child; and attempting to incite a 15-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity.

Mark Shepherd, for Chapman, said the prosecution had come as a shock to both the defendant - who had spent four months in jail on remand - and to his parents.

Passing sentence, Judge Peter Hughes QC, told the defendant: "The facts of this case are deeply unattractive. You used the internet as an outlet for your sexual gratification."

This kind of use of the internet was a cause of huge concern for the general public, said the judge.

He added: "You have had a taste of prison as you have been there for approximately four months and I very much hope that will have provided you with a realisation that prison is not a nice place to be and it will encourage you to learn your lesson."

The judge imposed a 36 month community order, with 30 days of rehabilitation, and a requirement to take part in a sex offenders group work programme.

Chapman was also banned from working with children.