A MAN from Dunster has admitted trying to contact a teenaged girl on the internet after being caught by an online sting operation.

Daniel Robinson thought he was contacting a 13-year-old girl named Libby when he sent sexualised messages and encouraged her to do sexual acts. In fact it was a decoy profile and the girl did not exist.

Robinson, aged 34, of Conygar View, Dunster, admitted attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity and attempted to engage a child in sexual communication.

He also pleaded guilty to downloading four indecent images of children from the internet. All were in category C, the lowest classification, which covers child nudity or sexualised posing.

Both charges specify that he was in contact with what he believed to be a girl named Libby, aged 13, between June 26 and July 17, 2017.

Judge Peter Johnson adjourned his sentence at Exeter Crown Court until June 6 and ordered a probation pre sentence report.

He released Robinson on bail but told him this was no indication of the eventual sentence. He also asked the prosecution to provide more details of a previous conviction.

He told Robinson:"You will receive appropriate credit for your guilty pleas. You have pleaded guilty to a serious matter and there is also a serious matter in your background."

Mr Rupert Taylor, defending, said the new offences did not involve a real child but arose out of online communications with a decoy profile.