A PAEDOPHILE has been locked up after sending a disgusting sexualised photo to someone he believed to be a child.

Phillip Collins engaged in sick sex chats online and even discussed arrangements to meet up with the young girl.

However, the 42-year-old was in fact communicating with an adult posing online to catch digital child sex offenders.

He was later charged with attempted sexual communications with a child and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

Collins appeared to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, February 21, where he was told that only immediate imprisonment was appropriate.

The court heard how the disgusting sex chats were exchanged between January 3 and January 10, 2022.

The Padgate based defendant, being an adult and for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, intentionally attempted to communicate with ‘Miyah’.

He believed this person to be a girl under 16, but it was in fact an adult using a decoy profile.

The court heard how Collins encouraged the girl to perform sex acts on herself, discussed sex with her, sent flirtatious messages and sent a photo of his penis.

As the chats progressed, the defendant was charged with intentionally arranging or facilitating a meet-up which would involve the commission of a child sex offence.

Collins, of Marsh Street in Padgate, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.

He was also handed a sexual harm prevention order for a period of 10 years and ordered to abide by sex offender registration and notification requirements for the same period of time.