A Stourbridge pervert caught in a sting operation set up by paedophile hunters has avoided spending time behind bars.
Dinnie Anderson, aged 51, tried to persuade a 13-year-old schoolgirl to meet him for sex but she was a decoy, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
Howard Searle, prosecuting, told the court Anderson was arrested by police officers after they were alerted by the paedophile hunters.
Anderson, who had a previous conviction for trying to meet a young girl for sexual purposes, made contact with the “13-year-old” shortly after her profile was posted.
He had an online conversation with the person he thought was a girl, said Mr Searle who added: “It turned sexual and despite being told on a number of occasions that she was 13 he persisted in trying to meet her to have sex.”
After his arrest Anderson, of Trinity Road, accepted he had behaved badly and that he had broken the terms of his Sexual Offences Prevention Order imposed for his earlier crime.
Judge Peter Barrie told him: “One way to protect girls in case you offend again is to send you straight to prison.
“The other is for you to seek help from professionals. In the light of your psychological report and the fact that there was no young girl because you had been set up I have chosen the second of these options.”
Anderson admitted attempting to incite a young girl to engage in sexual activity and breaching the court order and he was given a 12 month jail term suspended for two years.
The judge further ordered him to obey a rehabilitation course and he made him the subject of a new Sexual Offenders Protection Order.