Essex man's sick photos and messages to '12-year-old girl'

Daniel Potts, 29, was caught in a “classic undercover officer sting” as he sent twisted messages to a decoy.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard he sent her explicit pictures of himself and tried to “teach her to masturbate”.

Jerry Hayes, prosecuting, said: “The defendant made it very clear repeatedly that he wanted to meet with her and engage in sexual activity. He asked for a naked picture of her.”

Potts, of Blackthorn Avenue, Colchester, was arrested late last year, making admissions in police interview before admitting the charges against him.

He admitted attempted sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity.

• Court reporting - what your newspaper can and can't report

Annie Fraser, mitigating, said her client is “deeply ashamed” to be in the dock of a crown court for the first time.

“He’s a man who’s never been in any trouble at all,” she said.

“He has a very good work record, he’s always worked in his family business.”

Ms Fraser said Potts suffered with anxiety and depression, but had “shown a willingness” to address his mental health issues.

“His grandparents have brought him to court today and he’s obviously very distressed he’s had to inflict this on them as well,” she said.

Daniel Potts

She called on Judge Timothy Walker to suspend any prison sentence to give Potts the chance to work with the probation service.

“He has a great deal of remorse about this, he is very keen to seek treatment to make sure nothing of this nature ever happens again,” she said.

But Judge Walker said only a sentence of immediate imprisonment would do, adding the facts “clearly indicated” Potts had a sexual interest in children.

“Your incitement involved repeated communications with a child, who you thought was only 12 years of age,” he said.

“You sent various photographs and videos of yourself masturbating, thinking that a 12-year-old would be seeing those.”

Potts was jailed for 32 months, will be subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and will remain on the sex offenders register for life.