Sentencing of a man who attempted to groom young girls online has been adjourned because he was not represented by a lawyer.

Mold Crown Court was told Ricky Martin Bradley was not represented because of a mix-up over Legal Aid.

Judge Niclas Parry adjourned the case for a month and said it was a serious matter and Bradley needed to be represented by a solicitor and barrister.

It was a case that was likely to attract a custodial sentence, he said.

Bradley was further remanded in custody in the meantime. His case had been sent to the crown court by magistrates who heard Bradley believed he was chatting to girls aged 12 and 13.

He asked to meet some of them and suggested they have a relationship.

But what he did not know was that he was speaking to an on-line decoy for a paedo hunters group and he was arrested.

Bradley told police he could not stop himself and claimed not to know why he was doing it.

He appeared from custody at Flintshire Magistrates Court in January, admitted six offences of sexual grooming and he was remanded in custody to be sentenced at Mold Crown Court today

Bradley, 27, of Prince of Wales Avenue in Flint, was already on a suspended prison sentence from the crown court last summer for doing the same thing, the court heard.

Prosecutor Rhian Jackson said Bradley received a 12 month suspended prison sentence in August for two offences of grooming.

He was then placed on rehabilitation, was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender and a sexual harm prevention order was made.

But it turned out that in January he had contacted six girls on-line believing them to be aged 12 and 13 and that contact was sexual.

The victims were, however, fictitious, she said.

A woman had volunteered to act as an online decoy for National Child Protectors which looked for those involved in paedophile activities online.

She created false profiles of girls in chat rooms on social media and he had conversations with them of a sexual nature.

Arrested and interviewed, he made full admissions.

He admitted that it was wrong and that he believed them to be under age.

Mrs Jackson said “He apologised, he said he needed help, but said he could not stop himself.”

He claimed that he would not have met up with a child and could not explain why he had asked to meet in chat logs or why he had asked some of them to have a relationship with him.