A MAN who tried to persuade a series of people he thought were girls to perform sexual acts online and sent them obscene photos has been jailed.

Adam Matthew William Lee, 31, believed the three people he contacted over three months via social media were schoolgirls aged 13 and 14, said David Lamb, prosecuting.

But they were really adults, and when he revealed one part of his address, one of the adults was able to track him down and told police where he lived.

After hearing details of what Lee had said and sent to the three people, Recorder Andrew Dallas said: “It is extremely disturbing. It is very serious. It shows you were behaving in a way that was predatory.

“Fortunately, there was no actual harm done to any child.”

Lee, formerly of Burnsall Drive, Holgate, pleaded guilty to five charges of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and three of attempted sexual communication with a child and was jailed for two years.

He was also put on the sex offenders’ register and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, both for 10 years.

His barrister Glenn Parsons told York Crown Court: “He is devastated and highly emotional this morning about finding himself before the court for such serious offences.”

Lee was a chronic alcoholic who had been avoiding facing up to family and personal difficulties, said the defence barrister.

When he contacted the “girls” he had been “little more than a zombie” because of the amount of drugs and alcohol he had been taking and he couldn’t remember his actions. Since then he had been taking steps to tackle his alcoholism and was making progress, said Mr Parsons.