Hartlepool pensioner, 74, sent sexual WhatsApp comments to fictional teen girls after befriending them on Facebook

David Dunn, aged 74, made inappropriate sexual comments to who he believed were two 13-year-old girls after befriending them on Facebook last November and December, Teesside Crown Court heard.

After the conversions started innocently, they quickly progressed to more sexual messages after he encouraged the decoys to continue the chat on the WhatsApp messaging app.

Sam Faulks, prosecuting, said Dunn asked for pictures of both “girls” and complimented them calling them “cute” and “sexy”.

He sent one of the fictional girls a photo of himself naked from the waist up and said he felt “horny”.

With the other decoy, he made suggestive comments including saying he would like to “rub his hands all over her body”.

But Dunn was actually speaking to a woman from a paedophile hunting group using fake profiles.

The court heard he has effectively been “driven out” of his home by the local community after his behaviour came to light.

He admitted two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a girl under 16 at Teesside Magistrates Court previously.

In mitigation, his barrister, Stephen Constantine, said he was “contrite”, adding: “He accepts he has let his wife and family down.

"He acted at a weak time in his life.”

Judge Jonathan Carroll said the messages were “overtly and obviously sexual”.

But he said help would not be available if Dunn was jailed.

Dunn, of Church Street, Hartlepool, who had no previous convictions, received an eight-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years, probation and 120 hours of community service.