A paedophile who spoke to who he thought were ‘young and impressionable’ 13-year-old girls and sent one of them a horrific video has been jailed.

Lee Terrell, 36, who had also assaulted his partner, appeared before Preston Crown Court on Monday for two different offences.

Francis McEntee, prosecuting, said Terrell had set up an account on Kik, a messaging service, calling himself ‘cheating husband’ and ‘boy with a big toy’.

On March 26, Terrell started talking with who he believed was a 13-year-old girl called ‘Izzy’, who was in fact an undercover police officer.

He asked how old she was and was told 13, and then he continued to talk to the girl.

By April 4, he was having conversations with her about masturbating and cheating on his wife, sending pictures of himself, however these were not sexual.

On June 10, Terrell starting to talk with ‘Poppy’, another undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.

She told him she was 13 and he asked if she was a "sweet girl or a bad girl".

On June 23, he told ‘Poppy’ he was naked and if she wanted to see. He went on to send a video of sexual activity. Terrell continued to talk to the profile until July 5.

Mr McEntee said: “He described himself as a 'nonce'.

“He put his behaviour down to having a bad time and taking drugs.”

In a second, separate incident on July 9, Terrell woke up his then partner, telling her the children needed to go to school, when in fact it was 6am on a Saturday.

His partner said they did not however Terrell got angry, taking her to the floor and into a headlock before stamping on her leg.

He warned her to "shut her mouth", threatening to wake up the children, the court was told, and after going to work, Terrell returned at lunch time, still angered.

He found his ex-partner sleeping and the pair argued again, with an outreach worker witnessing the assault.

Terrell was "ragging her" around the room, grabbing her by her feet and pulling her off the bed.

After being arrested, he confessed to police but said that if he was guilty, then "she was also guilty".

In mitigation for Terrell, Neil Cronin said the defendant admitted the offending in both instances to officers and pleaded guilty at the earliest instances in court.

Terrell, of Albion Street, Burnley, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating, one count of inciting a child to look at an image of sexual activity and two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

In jailing Terrell for 18 months, Recorder John Richard Jones said Terrell thought he was talking to "young and impressionable girls", but luckily was not.

He said: “Poppy and Izzy were thankfully not young girls.

“They were undercover officers that were using the platform to find people engaging in sexual activity like you engaged in.

“These undercover officers didn’t post as 13 year old girls, they said in response to your question that they were.

“From the outset you believed you were speaking with young and impressionable girls.”

Alongside his prison sentence, Terrell will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for six years.