The 50-year-old was confronted by vigilantes Dark Justice in an Asda car park after chatting to two different online profiles they had set up posing as teen girls.

The group create decoy accounts to track down men who are seeking sexual activity with underage girls.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Thornton engaged in explicit chats with who he thought were two 13-year-old girls and arranged to meet one to take her virginity.

Christopher Baker, defending, said: “This defendant has failed to give a true explanation to why he went about this.

“But the reality is that these offences occurred when things in his life were going badly with his partner and his 26-year-old son who has various difficulties.

“That is some explanation for this kind of behaviour.

“But he accepts that people do this sort of thing because they have a sexual interest in children.

“He has lost his partner, the majori