A PERVERT who wanted to have sex with little girls is now ‘a broken man’ after being put behind bars by ‘paedophile hunters’.

Worcester sex offender Anthony Patrick hid his face during a previous court hearing with a hood and a mask. But in the end there was nowhere to hide when he was jailed at Worcester Crown Court on Thursday.

The married pervert, previously of Great House Road, Worcester, who is said to be 'at rock bottom' tried to bed what he thought were two girls, one aged 12 and the other 13, telling his intended targets: "I like my girls young."

However, what the 55-year-old did not know was that he was in reality communicating with an adult paedophile hunter who had set up decoy profiles in order to protect children from the vile advances of predators like him.

Patrick, who used false names to conceal his identity, was jailed for 27 months after he admitted seven sex offences. He had already indicated guilty pleas at the city's magistrates court last November.

The father-of-three pleaded guilty to attempting to cause or incite a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity between January 15 and February 20, 2018 after asking her to send nude photographs of herself to him. He further admitted attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a sexual offence involving a child between the same dates. These offences involved a decoy, really an adult woman, who introduced herself as 'Becky'.

Patrick also attempted to do the same to a second 'child', also a decoy, called Sky between April 10 and April 20, 2018. In relation to this he also admitted attempting to arrange/facilitate the commission of a child sex offence and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity involving penetration.

A search of his home also revealed indecent images of children, including two at category A (the most serious) which shows children being abused by adults.

He admitted three counts of making indecent images at categories A, B and C. The images were made between October 5, 2016 and December 23, 2017 - four images were category B and 13 were category C.

Patrick used an app called Chat Hour to communicate with the decoys who made their age clear to him from the start.

Giles Nelson, prosecuting, said Patrick's conversation became 'explicitly sexual' and he told 'Becky' he wanted to meet her for sex.

The defendant said his name was Roy and he asked the decoy, who told him she was 12, for nude pictures, providing his mobile phone number so she could send them to him through WhatsApp.

The second decoy, who told him she was 13, was told by Patrick, who this time identified himself as Tony, would like to meet up with her so they could have sex.

"He asked her what she was wearing under her school uniform and asked her to take off her underwear" said Mr Nelson.

Patrick also told her about sexual acts he would like her to perform on herself and upon him and suggested coming to her house when he believed the decoy's mother was at work so they could have sex. When she expressed concern she could pregnant and 'have a baby' Patrick suggested another way they could have sex without this happening.

Mr Nelson said it was an aggravating feature of the case that Patrick had used false names to hide his identity.

Mark Sheward, defending, said his client had become depressed and his marriage had deteriorated at the time of the offences. "He stated it was a form of escapism as far as he was concerned. He tells me he doesn't think he would have met up with any of these girls," said the city solicitor.

Mr Sheward, who appeared over videolink, said: "To say Mr Patrick is ashamed is an understatement. He effectively is a broken man. He recognises he let himself down but also his family down."

Patrick was summarily dismissed from his employment when the story was first published in the Worcester News and has also lost his marriage, his wife having filed for divorce, the advocate told the court.

"He's currently living with his parents as a temporary measure" said Mr Sheward.

Patrick had been a man of previous good character. "He's at rock bottom" said the solicitor.

The sex offender has also had a biopsy for suspected colon cancer and is awaiting the results.

Judge Martin Jackson said the decoy had repeated to him 'numerous times' that she was 12 but he still solicited nude photos of her. "I'm satisfied there was grooming behaviour by you" he told Patrick.

"She raised concerns about getting pregnant and about whether it would hurt and your response was 'it might hurt at first but you will get used to it'. That's entirely grooming behaviour" the judge said.

He described Patrick's behaviour as 'persistent' and argued that he 'pressurised' the decoys into sexual activity.

Judge Jackson jailed him for 27 months and made a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years, restricting his contact with children and his use of the internet.

This sentence reflected an early guilty plea at magistrates court which attracted a third discount in the length of the custodial term.

"I'm afraid to say only immediate custody is appropriate in this case given the total gravity" he said.

Judge Jackson further ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the devices which had contained indecent images of children.