Married delivery driver caught in social media sting by undercover police officer

David Hayton thought that he was messaging a 13-year-old girl on a chat site last summer, Teesside Crown Court was told.

But it was an undercover police officer who he told that he wanted to keep their contact a secret from his wife.

Hayton, a delivery driver, kept the communications going for nearly a fortnight, said prosecutor Harry Hadfield.

Mr Hadfield added: “He said he wished he could see her and give her a hand in getting dressed.

”He asked about her sexual experiences and said that she could practise on him. He told her that he was married and 40 years old.

The court heard Hayton said he thought about her when he was having sexual relations with his wife and later said he was trying to imagine her body and taking a shower with her, and how she might look in her school uniform.

He told police he did not have any sexual interest in children.

Paul Green, defending, said that Hayton was embarrassed and ashamed of his behaviour.

Hayton, of Warwick Crescent, Billingham, was given a nine-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months with 25 days rehabilitation requirements, and ordered to register as a Sex Offender and to serve a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years after he pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

The orders banned him from unsupervised contact with children under 16 and restrict his use of the internet and social media.