A member of staff at a large comprehensive school wanted sex with 13-year-old girls and had a video on his phone of a child as young as five being raped, a court has heard. Paul James Davies worked as a lab technician at the school, and was also a youth volunteer with St John Ambulance. Though Davies' offending was not connected to the school or St John, a judge said he believed it was not a coincidence that the defendant held such positions given his sexual interest in youngsters. Swansea Crown Court heard that Davies was caught in a "sting" operation run by members of an online group called Welsh Children Protectors. Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said an adult member of the group established a fake profile - known as a "decoy" - purporting to be a 13-year-old girl on a social media site called Chatiw, and waited for someone to make contact. In October last year Porthcawl Comprehensive School lab tech Davies began to message the profile, introducing himself as "Paul from Neath". Read More The court heard the conversation soon became sexual, and that when the decoy reminded 32-year-old Davies of her age "it seemed to spur him on". The prosecutor said that over the course of the following weeks Davies talked about meeting the girl, going for drives together or going swimming, and described the kinds of sex acts he wanted to perform on the girl - and have her perform on him. Davies was again reminded of the supposed aged of the decoy, and replied: "That would not matter to me - I am good at keeping things secret". The court heard Davies arranged to meet the person he thought was a teen on November 10, but failed to turn up at the rendezvous point - members of the group went to his house instead, and when they knocked on the door the defendant's wife answered. Police were called, and officers subsequently seized computer equipment, and found a Samsung mobile phone under a bush in Davies' garden. When the phone was forensically analysed, hundreds of images were recovered including three films of Category A - the most extreme kind - one of which showed a girl aged between five and seven being raped by men. However, the vast majority of the images could not be placed in one of the three categories used by police. On the phone and on a Dell computer police also found chatlogs from online platforms including Kik, WhatsApp, and Skype showing Davies had been having sexually explicit conversations with a number of young girls stretching back as far as January 2016. In one of the exchanges, he told a girl he was on duty with St John at an event in Neath while messaging her. Police also found evidence he had sent one of the images on his phone to a fellow paedophile. Davies, originally from Neath but now of Forge Road, Port Talbot , had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a child to commit a sexual act, three counts of making indecent images of children, and one count of distributing an indecent image when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. Paul Hobson, for Davies, said it was no exaggeration to say his client's life "is now in ruins" - including the loss of his marriage - and he had brought "utter disgrace" on himself in the eyes of those who knew him. He said that unlike some offenders Davies recognised he had a problem, and that his behaviour had been "abhorrent", and he was seeking help from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation which works to stop sex offending. Judge Paul Thomas QC told Davies that the pictures and films of girls he had on his phone were images of real youngsters being abused and raped. He told the defendant that the market provided by paedophiles like him for such material meant "young lives ruined around the world". The judge said he agreed with the conclusion of a pre-sentence report into Davies that it was "no coincidence" that he had found employment in a school, and was a youth volunteer, adding that the defendant could rightly be described as a "predatory paedophile". For each of the image charges Davies was sentenced to four months in prison, all the sentences to run concurrently making a total of four months. For the attempting to incite a child offence he was sentenced to four months to run consecutively with the other sentences making a total of eight months - the defendant will serve half that time in custody before being released on licence. Davies was also made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order to limit his access to children and control his internet use, and will be on the sex offenders register for the same length of time. Speaking after the sentencing, a spokeswoman for St John Cymru said: “We take the safety of all members of our organisation extremely seriously. We follow a safer recruitment process as part of our duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. "All checks regarding PD [Paul Davies] were completed satisfactorily, and he was suspended as a volunteer when we were advised of his arrest. "Throughout this process we have worked with the relevant authorities, and followed our internal policies, to ensure no-one has been put at risk.” A spokesman for Bridgend Council confirmed Davies no longer works at Porthcawl Comprehensive School, adding: "While the offences remain unrelated to the school, teachers and staff are expected to conduct themselves in a manner which sets a positive example to pupils, colleagues and the wider community alike at all times."