A paedophile thought he was talking to a 13-year-old girl when he started sexual conversations with her over the internet.

Alan Burton, 69, was in fact talking to a decoy from an online child protection unit, but he did not know this when he messaged the Facebook profile for the decoy, a girl called Ellie May, starting the chat by saying ‘Hiya baby.’

The girl instantly informed Burton she was a 13-year-old from Belfast but the chat soon became sexualised, and Burton reiterated ‘it was a pity she was only 13’.

Mercedah Jabbari, prosecuting, said Burton sent two images and a sexual video and the conversation continued over the course of a month.

Burton warned the girl “against bad men who groomed children online” but continually pointed out to her that he was not a paedophile.

As a result of the conversations, the decoy alerted their supervisor and a sting operation was set up to catch Burton at Burnley bus station.

When caught, he said he was teaching children to be comfortable with themselves and only sent the videos to be educational.

Burton’s house was searched by police and they found more than 15 devices in his house – two of which contained 128 extreme images and 135 prohibited images of children across them.

There was also evidence of browsing activity for websites related to pornography involving children and extreme images involving animals.

In interview, Burton said he did not watch child pornography but did watch other pornography on his phone.

He also conceded to searching for those terms but said he did it as he was ‘lonely and fed up’.

Burton, of Bridgewater Court, Blackburn, has 19 convictions for 33 previous offences, including a prison sentence in 2005 for sexual activity with a female child and a suspended sentence in 2009 for breaching notification requirements.

Mitigating for Burton, Graham Rishton said: “Burton asks me to say how sorry he is for his actions and for appearing here today, and asks me to really stress his circumstances at the time.

“He had feelings of loneliness and isolation. Those may be factors which led to him to conduct himself in such fashion.”

Sentencing, Judge Daniel Prowse said: “On June 25, 2022, using the internet you contacted who you believed to be a 13-year-old girl.

“She made it clear she was 13. That did not deter your contact with her.

“You told her it was a shame she wasn’t from Thailand or China, where the age of consent is younger.

“You were inciting a child to undertake sexual activity. You did so because you are sexually attracted to children and for your own sexual gratification.

“You present a very clear risk of sexual harm to children.”

Judge Prowse sentenced Burton to three years and nine months in prison.

He was also given a sexual harm prevention order for 15 years and will be subject to sex offender notification requirements for life.