A man aged 26 sent messages to a girl in New Zealand he believed was aged 13 asking her for sex.

Aaron James Brimfield, who pretended to be a teenager himself, even sent her a photograph of his manhood.

But what he did not know was the girl he said he would take to a hotel for sex when he visited New Zealand was in fact an undercover police officer.

She was working for the online child exploitation protection team in New Zealand and they tipped off North Wales Police.

Brimfield was arrested at his place of work and he was jailed for eight months after he admitted five charges of attempting to get a girl to engage in, or watch, sexual activity between September and November of last year.

Brimfield, of Brynteg Crescent, Brynteg, was a man of no previous convictions who had a partner and a daughter of his own.

At Mold Crown Court yesterday he was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for seven years.

A seven year sexual harm prevention order was also made.

Judge Rhys Rowlands said the law was there to protect young girls.

There was no actual victim in his case, but he was “seeking out” a child victim.

Judge Rowlands said there had been repeated contact and Brimfield was a man in his mid-20s who suggested penetrative sexual activity with a child he believed to be aged about 13.

The judge took into account Brimfield’s guilty pleas and previous good character.

Barrister Andrew McInnes, prosecuting, said Brimfield engaged in sexually explicit conversations with an undercover police officer in New Zealand.

He believed he was talking to a girl aged 13 and used a Facebook account in a false name. The defendant said he was 14, but could not go to school because he had been caught in a sex act with a girl.

He asked her to go on Snapchat and asked for pictures to be sent of her and of her underwear.

Later he said he had been caught out and was actually 18, sent photographs of himself and asked if she would have sex with him.

He explained in detail what he wanted to do to her and suggested they could go to a hotel without her mother knowing if he visited New Zealand.

Brimfield said he loved her and told how he was looking for flights.

He called her his princess and asked what the legal age to get married without parental consent was in that country.

North Wales Police arrested him at his place of work, Speedie Cars in Wrexham, and the address he shared with his partner and daughter aged three was searched.

He initially denied responsibility but when the evidence was put to him he admitted in a second interview that he was responsible for the messages and photographs.

Brimfield said he had been stupid, claimed he did not want to have sex with her and said he believed she was older than 13, maybe 18.

He denied being sexually interested in her and said he was being ridiculous when he asked for a photograph of her underwear.

It had been “silly chat”, he said, and denied he would ever have left the UK.

Brimfield said he did not get any sexual pleasure from the conversations online and knew it was illegal to send a photograph of his manhood to a child.

Barrister John Hedgecoe, defending, stressed his client was a young man of no previous convictions and handed in references which showed a different side to his character.

DC Nick Hawe, of the North Wales Police Cyber Crime Team, said after the hearing: “I hope this sentence will reinforce our commitment to eradicate all forms of online child abuse.   

“His incarceration will hopefully serve as a warning to others.”