A PERVERT was snared by paedophile hunters as he engaged in lewd online sexual chat with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl.

After 48-year-old Martin Gray was confronted by vigilantes and brought to the attention of police it emerged he had conducted internet searches about the legal age of consent and possible penalties for breaking the law.

Officers arrested Gray at his Keswick address on January 23 last year after he was confronted by the paedophile hunters — one of whom had set up a Facebook profile pretending to be a schoolgirl aged 13. They joined online “teen chat” and “find a friend” groups and were contacted by Gray.

He quickly learned her age and of personal difficulties and vulnerabilities. “The defendant was kind but quickly the conversation turned sexual in nature,” prosecutor Kim Whittlestone told Carlisle Crown Court.

He tried engage the “girl” in sexualised chat, told her he loved her and wanted to meet up and also sent an intimate picture of himself. “He said he would teach her about sex. He told her to keep it a secret,” said Miss Whittlestone.

Police later found that Gray had mocked up — and sent — images of teddy bears with the girl’s name on, and researched how to travel to and from her supposed home city.

When brought to court he admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in both sexual activity and sexual communication; attempting to cause a child to look at an image of sexual activity; and cannabis possession.

Brendan Burke, defending, said Gray had “already been severely punished by the mere existence” of the court proceedings. He had lost a job, was homeless and now likely to lose temporary accommodation at a relative’s address if the case details were publicised.

“He is a man of extreme vulnerability and in a custodial environment would be about as vulnerable as it is possible to be,” said Mr Burke.

But Judge David Potter, concluding that only an immediate prison sentence would be adequate punishment for the offending, jailed him for 28 months.

“There was a clear attempt, in this court’s judgement, to groom this child who was telling you a) she was 13 and b) she was particularly vulnerable,” said Judge Potter. “It is only through some good fortune that the person with whom you were communicating was an adult decoy.”

Gray, previously of Blencathra Street, Keswick, and latterly of no fixed address, must sign the sex offenders’ register as part of strict notification requirements, and comply with the terms of a prevention order, both for 10 years.