'I've got a sick attraction... yes, I'm a stupid idiot'

A "lonely" online predator who lost his job after being caught in a sting by paedophile hunters has been spared jail.

Former Waitrose supermarket worker Simon Barnard, 56, admitted having a sick attraction to "borderline females" after sending messages via WhatsApp and Facebook inviting a 14-year-old girl to his house to drink wine and “f***”.

However, he walked free from court last Wednesday (December 4) after a judge accepted he had shown ''true remorse'' for his actions. Chester Crown Court was told the sting operation took place on October 22 of last year after Barnard began chatting with investigators from the paedophile hunters group who were posing as the schoolgirl.

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Prosecutor Laura Knightly said: “The conversation was with a decoy who informed the defendant on several occasions that she was 14 years of age. Despite this the defendant engaged in sexually explicit communication.

"He asked if she played with herself and asked her to come to his house to drink wine and f***. The defendant engaged in messages first on Facebook and there were further WhatsApp messages.

“Police officers attended the location and the defendant was arrested. When asked if he was responsible for the exchanges he said, ‘Yes, I am a stupid idiot'. He said he had consumed two bottles of red wine and could not remember what happened but recalled talking sexually to her.

"He could not remember her name or what she looked like. He did not think of her as a 14-year-old girl. In his head she was a 30-year-old woman.''

Barnard, of Mill Green, Congleton, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. He was