A BUSINESSMAN asked for sexy photos from an underage girl in "a moment of stupidity".

James Turner requested the pictures during a text-based chat with a girl he believed to be just 14, who he met online.

However, the 'girl' was actually self-styled paedophile hunter Stinson Hunter, masquerading as a teen.

At Worcester Crown Court last month, Turner, previously of Grayling Close, Broomhall, Worcester, admitted attempting to incite a girl of 14 to engage in sexual activity.

In his sentencing hearing today (February 27), the court heard Turner sent a message on May 26, 2013 asking her for "sexy" photos.

After a further exchange of Whatsapp messages, Turner caught on to the fact the girl was not all she seemed.

Judge Michael Cullum described his actions as "a moment of stupidity" and said after the initial messages he had "rumbled" Mr Hunter.

At a later date, Turner met up with Mr Hunter in person - but this was only to verify that the 'girl' did not exist.

He said: "A moment of stupidity lost you your good character, it lost you your job and it's changed irretrievably the direction of your life.

"That is a significant penalty."

Mr Hunter and his team use clandestine methods to catch potential sex offenders.

They create fake profiles and pose as underage teens, before luring their ‘subjects’ to a meeting and filming them.

Judge Cullum described the case as being about "a fleeting attempt from [Turner] to get a child who you believed to be under 16 to send a sexual image over to you".

He ruled that 46-year-old Turner was not guilty of attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming.

Turner was of previous good character and has subsequently moved abroad.

His defence lawyer Lynette McClement said after he had asked for the sexy photos of the teen he checked voter lists for her address and "became suspicious...that this wasn't a 14-year-old girl".

Miss McClement said profiles on the website were supposed to be opened only by people aged 17 or over, but Turner should have realised she was a child earlier.

In mitigation, Miss McClement said his actions took place "against a background of threatening messages and acts of vandalism against his vehicle and his address."

"He formed a view that someone was trying to set him up quite early on in the conversation.

"There was a clear element of questioning to try to find out more information.

"In the early stages he couldn't have been under any firm belief this wasn't a child under 14 and he accepts that.

"What he does say is the continued requests for a normal photograph were because if the person at the other end wasn't a child they couldn't produce a normal photograph.

"That is, of course, what happens."

Turner was fined £500, ordered to pay costs of £800 and put on the sex offenders' register for five years.