A COURT has heard how a Riddlesden man asked for photos from a 13-year-old girl online not realising she was a police decoy.

Prosecutor Emily Thorbjornsen told Bradford Crown Court that Christopher Pennie contacted the girl in an online chatroom in February, 2021.

He asked her age and what she looked like, told her he was 45, and requested photographs of her in underwear and a "hot photograph".

Pennie, who at the time lived at Carleton, said he would not report her for sending a photograph despite knowing she was only 13.

When arrested, Pennie denied having contact with any girls, but later pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Mitigating, Paul Canfield said there was a lack of admission from Pennie in pre-sentence reports, and that some people "struggled to admit" interest in children.

Pennie, 48, of Canal Road, was given a two-year community order, made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order, and told to sign the sex offenders' register for five years.

He was ordered to go on an accredited sex offenders' programme for 43 days, with a six-month alcohol treatment requirement plus 55 further rehabilitation activity days if required.