A PERVERT sent pictures of his private parts to a girl he thought was just 14 before being busted by paedophile hunting vigilantes.

Dean Dunmore, 39, began talking to a girl he was told was named Chloe online and then on Whatsapp.

From the outset, the user said she was 14, but Dunmore continued to send explicit messages over a month-long period including the pictures of himself, talking about sex acts and asked her to send images of her naked body.

When setting up the meet he said he was a good guy and funny and warm.

Chloe was, in fact, a decoy profile set up by an online group, and Dunmore was rumbled and confronted after arranging to meet at Clacton Train Station in June last year.

When police searched his home in Wellesley Road, Clacton, they found lit candles, a sex toy and a packet of condoms.

Dunmore admitted attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to incite a child into sexual activity and possession of cannabis.

Peter Clark, mitigating, said Dunmore, who is deaf, had no previous convictions and struggled to socialise because of his disability.

He said: “He was at a low point in his life.

“Up until this point he had enjoyed a good life and worked throughout his adulthood but things went wrong when he split up with his ex-partner.

“It absolutely devastated him.

“He got involved in things he would never otherwise have done before.”

Judge Timothy Walker described Dunmore’s behaviour as “illegal and abhorrent” but suspended his 15 month sentence for two years.

He was told he must attend 90 rehabilitation days as well as complete 180 hours of unpaid work.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.